Dichotomy: The Winter Soldier
by blankcatrequiem
Summary: Melinda has a gift. A gift that she hates to use, but when a stranger shows up in her apartment she finds that she is unable to deny that part of who she is. In using her gift she suddenly becomes pulled into the dangerous world of superheroes and villains, a world that every average person sees as glamorous. Will she be able to survive all the trials headed her way?
1. Chapter 1

She expected the lights on in her apartment since she had forgotten to turn them off in the morning rush, she expected her white cat to greet her at the door purring loudly, and she had expected to see her dishes still on the table, the basket filled with laundry in her bedroom, and the stack of books on her coffee table. What she did not expect to see however, was the man lying on her couch covered in blood.

"What the hell!" the door shut behind her, her keys and bag dropped to the floor with a clatter and she stood frozen in the doorway.

She could see the man stiffen and his eyes opened slowly almost as if dreading to see who it was.

"Who are you?" she asked, her heart was beating fast and her hands shook slightly, "Why are you here? How did you get in here?" her voice was beginning to rise with her panic.

The man struggled to sit up and managed to prop himself up on a pillow, his blood seeping out between his fingers with every movement.

"I'm calling 911." she bent over to the floor and fumbled around with the contents until she found her phone.

"Please." the man called out weakly, "Don't call 911." his voice came out breathy.

She froze and stood up, her phone in hand, "Who are you?" she asked once again. Her brown eyes locked with the man's blue ones.

There was a moment of hesitation before the man swallowed and licked his lips, "Bucky." he replied hoarsely, "My name is Bucky."

"Okay, Bucky." she tested out the name hesitantly, "Why shouldn't I call 911 right now?" maybe this man wasn't just crazy. He was obviously hurt and needed a place to rest but who was after him? Would they come after her too? Wouldn't it be better for him to go to a hospital to get treated too?

Bucky just shook his head panting, he winced at the pain, "Please just don't." he said weakly, he gasped lightly and then pressed down on his wound harder. Blood still seeped from between his fingers but he didn't let up the pressure he exerted.

She sighed heavily and then set her cell phone down on the table, "I won't ask anymore right now." she bit the inside of her cheek and then turned her full attention to the wound he was guarding.

Bucky seemed to relax into the sofa but his breathing got heavier and his eyes closed, "Thank you." he whispered.

"Let me see your wound." she immediately made her way towards him but he stiffened up, his eyes snapped open and he looked at her warily. His free hand went to the daggers strapped to his thigh that she belatedly noticed.

She stopped in her steps at the sudden reaction, her heart in her throat, "It's okay." she held up both her hands, "I'm just trying to help." she swallowed hoping that she wouldn't get speared by his daggers. By the looks of it there was a long row of them.

They looked at each other for a few moments before Bucky finally relaxed a little and then nodded.

She paused for a few seconds looking him over. Now that she was getting over her initial shock at having a stranger in her apartment, she was beginning to notice details about him that she had failed to see before. The black backpack on the floor, his dark red shirt was dirty and ripped, his left arm was entirely made of some kind of shiny silvery metal, and his black pants with its many pockets seemed to hold dangerous weapons.

She took a breath pushing any other thoughts away and carefully made her way towards him. He still watched her a little apprehensively as if anticipating her to do something.

But she slowly knelt down beside him and after a brief exchange of glances, Bucky slowly lifted his bloody hand from his abdomen. She carefully lifted up the soaked bloody shirt, her eyes narrowed and her jaws clenched at what she saw. Whoever it was that injured him had done a good job of it. There was a ragged hole in his upper right abdomen and it was apparently deep enough that she could see some spots of yellow-white through the blood that continuously seeped out of the wound.

"When did this happen?" she asked as she stood up and walked to her bathroom a few feet away. She grabbed a stack of small towels and filled a basin with warm water before returning.

"A couple of hours ago." came the reply.

She knelt down beside him again and dipped a towel in the water and wrung the water out before gently mopping the blood around the wound. She needed a better look at it before deciding what to do. She already knew that some of his internal organs had been damaged, but thankfully it wasn't too bad.

"Can I ask what caused this?" she dropped the used towel into the basin and grabbed a fresh towel to dry the area. The bleeding was beginning to slow but only gradually. He was still losing a fair amount of blood and she had to act quickly before he went into shock. She glanced at him, and she guessed that he was getting close.

Yeah, the man might be dangerous but he obviously needed help and this was a terrible weakness she had. She just had to help no matter who it was.

She glanced at Bucky when there was no response fearing that he had lost consciousness but when she looked he just shook his head.

"Fair enough I guess." she sighed and dropped the towel in the basin. The area was cleaner and now that the blood was mostly gone she could see that the wound was the size of a fist. It was as if someone had tried to punch a hole through him but failed horribly.

She deliberated for a moment, wondering what to do. She didn't like to use her gift if possible but looking at her options right now there wasn't much choice. The man didn't want to go to a hospital and she was just a nurse. There was nothing in her apartment to treat this man except for a bottle of extra strength Tylenol and rubbing alcohol. She didn't even have a sewing kit to close up the hole in his stomach.

She bit the inside of her cheek trying to think of something else. She did have a friend who worked as a surgeon at the same hospital as her.

"Bucky I have a friend who works as a surgeon in the same hospital as me." she spoke clearly but softly and looked at him, "Would it be okay for me to call him over to have him look at your wound?"

The look on Bucky's face darkened and he shook his head, "No." he didn't even take a moment to think about it.

"But-" she tried to continue but Bucky shook his head stubbornly.

She sighed, "You're not exactly in a position to refuse any help." she frowned, "If I don't get you the help you need you're gonna go into shock and that's not a stage you want to go to."

But Bucky still shook his head, "No one else." his voice was weakening and his breathing was starting to become rapid.

She sighed in exasperation and stood up to grab the bottle of rubbing alcohol in her bathroom and a roll of bandages she hoped wouldn't cause an infection.

"This is gonna hurt like a bitch." she unscrewed the cap of the alcohol, got the towels and bandages ready before locking eyes with Bucky. He was starting to snowball into shock and she didn't have much time to think of any more options.

Just this one time she would have to use her powers and hope that it wouldn't kill her too.

Bucky nodded when she grabbed the bottle of rubbing alcohol and a towel, he braced himself before she splashed a good measure of it into and around his wound. He let out a small strained cry but immediately clamped his mouth shut as he tried to wait out the worst of the pain. Fresh sweat beaded his forehead and his dark hair stuck to the sides of his face.

She sympathized with the pain he was feeling and desperately wished that she had a bottle of sterile water with her instead. But she had to work with what she already had, besides the rubbing alcohol would actually kill any bacteria that had been introduced into his wound.

Immediately bright red blood slowly began to pool in the wound and she wadded up the bandages and pressed it into the wound despite Bucky's grunts of pain.

"Okay Bucky I know you're in pain right now but I need you to look into my eyes." she maintained the pressure on the wound despite Bucky's resistance.

The man stopped resisting and he opened his glazed eyes breathing hard.

"You're not going to like what you're going to feel next." she told him as she sat cross legged on the floor, "Hold pressure on this." she instructed.

His rough shaky hands took over and held pressure while she concentrated on breathing evenly and deeply.

"Don't close your eyes Bucky." her voice was sharp and she placed her bloody hands on either side of the wound. She closed her eyes and let herself feel. She could feel the temperature of his body, the tempo of his pulse, the strain of his muscles trying to reject pain. She breathed in evenly, concentrating on the beat of his heart, the effort his heart was putting into pumping his blood.

Seconds passed and she could feel the rate of their breathing begin to match each other, minutes passed and she could feel her heart begin to beat to the same rhythm as Bucky's. She could feel his pulse quicken and hers quickened at the same time, she could feel his breaths come out short and hers did as well. She sharpened her range of concentration and focused on traversing the open edges of his wound. Raw and torn. She could feel the nerves screaming for what wasn't there.

Her eyes opened and she looked at Bucky, "I need you to look at me now Bucky." she whispered trying to hide the pain she was feeling from her voice.

Bucky turned his head slightly and suddenly blue eyes met brown ones.

There was a sharp jolt between them and she braced herself for what was coming next. Her vision blurred nauseatingly and she had to suppress the urge to turn around and vomit. She always hated this part of the joining. Within a few seconds, her vision cleared and they both blinked at each other.

They were completely joined now. Physically at least. She could feel his heartbeat weaken as if it were her own, every breath he took was laborious, his chest was feeling heavy, his hands were growing cold, and the pain…

She almost fainted when the full impact of the pain finally hit her like an oncoming train. She felt Bucky tense and in response her own body tensed in apprehension. She could feel the fear response rise up within Bucky's chest...her chest.

"It's okay." she gasped and she heard his voice saying the same words back to her.

She grabbed one of the daggers strapped to Bucky's side before he could fully comprehend what she was doing. His fear automatically heightened in response but she worked quickly. He was beginning to try and resist her and so without wasting any time she made a careful cut on the palm of her hand.

She felt a jolt of surprise in Bucky's chest as he saw through her eyes what she had done. She quickly moved Bucky's hands and removed the wad of gauze from the wound and placed her bleeding over the wound.

She closed her eyes once again and pressed out her mind through the wound into Bucky's veins, through this capillaries, through his arteries until finally she reached his rapidly beating but weakening heart.

When she caught the flow of direction of Bucky's blood, she began to slowly channel her own blood into his wound in the hopes of replacing an adequate portion of the blood he had lost.

The pain of the wound they both felt did nothing to help her work faster and she didn't know how much of her own blood she gave him but when at last she could feel his heart beating evenly and steadily she cut the flow of blood from her own body.

She had one more thing to to do before cutting off the physical connection. The one thing she absolutely hated to do, but the situation right now didn't allow her any room to just leave everything as it was.

She took a deep breath and braced herself for the pain. There was a point of balance that she would have to find in the process or the consequences would be dangerous for her.

Bucky's wound was exactly 2 centimeters to the left of his 9th and 10th rib. Having found the exact location of his wound, she pinpointed the spot on her own body with her own consciousness. Next she focused on the depth of the wound, the size of the hole, the type of damage the surroundings organs received, every tear, every disrupted layer of muscle, fat, and blood vessels, everything about the wound she studied. Her mind, her consciousness studying every millimeter, every broken vessel, every cellular tear that made up the injury until she had nothing else to learn anymore.

A very clear picture of the status of Bucky and the wound appeared in her mind and slowly she began to imagine every break and every tear on her own body. The depth of the wound, the exact way the flesh had been injured, the muscle tears, everything she had learned about it, she painstakingly carved into her own body.

In the process she could vaguely feel Bucky's wound begin to mend slowly. Every tear and break she imagined on her own body made the exact same one that constituted Bucky's wound disappear and heal as if it had ever been there before.

By the time she realized that exactly half the wound had been...for lack of better words, transferred to her own body, she became acutely aware of the time that had lapsed by.

It was time to stop now.

Slowly she pulled in her consciousness back to the center of her mind, severing the connections she made with Bucky, his heart, his pulse, his nerves.

Once she made sure she was completely severed from him she opened her eyes. Her vision blurred and her head throbbed as she blinked at the sudden feeling of only being connected to her own body. The abrupt absence she felt after getting used to Bucky's presence left her feeling empty. But this wasn't anything new. It always happened no matter who it was.

She swayed perilously as the concentrated after effects of her powers flooded her but she caught herself in time before falling over. Cold sweat beaded her forehead and iced her core, exhaustion pressed down on her heavily, and the pain…Sharp, persistent, and overpowering.

She cried out weakly but stopped herself from making anymore noise by biting down on her tongue. Breathing hard she checked Bucky's condition and noticed that he had fallen asleep during the process. The wound looked a couple of weeks old at most, the flesh starting to painstakingly pull together and mend from the inside out. The fist sized hole had shrunk to the size of something a little bigger than a bottle cap and all in all, it was healing nicely. She would have to go out later and somehow procure a suturing kit. It was all good that the wound was healing but without a suture in place it would take much longer to heal.

For now she would cover his wound with a fresh bandage and hope it wouldn't be aggravated and open up. The process was painstakingly slow especially with her level of exhaustion and sudden loss of blood. The pain in her abdomen was still sharp and persistent. It demanded her attention right now but she gritted her teeth and taped the bandage over Bucky's wound before slumping on the floor, her back against the couch.

Her hands shook as she looked down at her abdomen. Her shirt was already becoming soaked with blood. Cold sweat dripped down the sides of her face as she dragged her shirt up to reveal the fresh ragged fist sized hole that had been on Bucky earlier.

She swiped at the roll of bandages and haphazardly wrapped it around herself making sure it was tight enough but not too tight. For now this was the extent of what she could do, she could only hope that she wouldn't bleed out during the night. Breathing hard she wiped away the sweat on her forehead and proceeded to lay down on the floor next to the couch.

Pain, weakness, cold...her head was swimming around in circles, and she could barely see anything. Why had she done this again? Oh yeah, it was to help this man...this stranger who called himself Bucky.

The exhaustion that had been steadily pressing down on her now seemed to crush her. Her eyes shut immediately and still breathing hard her mind easily slipped into unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

Somewhere in her mind, a thought pushed its way to the forefront, Bucky. Where had she heard that name before? Or had she ever heard that name?

Bucky. Bucky. Bucky. The name seemed to multiply itself in her head as she tried to shake it off and for fucks' sake just **rest** for a few damn moments.

Through the grogginess of exhaustion and sleep she could gradually feel herself become more aware of herself. Her pain, the soreness of her back, the sweat that beaded her forehead, the fast pace of her breathing, the large hands that grabbed her shoulders and shook her frantically.

"Hey!" it was Bucky, "Hey, you okay?" his voice was still hoarse but it was definitely stronger than it had been yesterday.

She wrinkled her face in pain as he jostled her and let out a little cry of pain. The hands immediately removed themselves from her and she felt him feel her neck for a pulse.

"She's still alive." she heard him mutter quietly.

Sighing heavily, she finally opened her eyes. She couldn't stay like this forever, not with him freaking out like this. She squinted and had to blink a few times before her vision finally focused and she didn't see in twos. None of the lights were on but the sunlight that streamed in through her apartment windows was enough to see the mess inside.

The bloody towels and basin of water had been pushed aside, a wad of clumpy bandages was on the floor next to her, and there was a bottle of half empty rubbing alcohol an arms length away from her. She squinted up at the person looming over her.

"Are you okay?" Bucky was kneeling next to her and when she turned her head to look at him, a look of relief came over his face.

"I'm fine." she croaked, but that was far from the truth. Her throat was dry, her head still spun, her body was feeling sluggish, and the wound on her abdomen was doing her absolutely no favors. All she wanted to do was lay there and wallow in self-pity and regret. Nevermind taking a shower, nevermind receiving proper medical attention.

Bucky stood up and walked over to the kitchen looking for something. She heard the sound of her cupboards being opened and closed until he found what he was looking for and then the sound of the sink being turned on and off.

Her eyes closed, she was tired. Her soul was tired. She didn't have the strength to do or say anything.

Footsteps came her way, paused and then she felt a pair of arms suddenly lift her up from the floor unnervingly fast.

"What-?" her eyes snapped open but before she could ask her full question she was already on the couch that Bucky had occupied before.

He kneeled next to her now, grabbed the cup he had set on the coffee table and gently, he brought it to her lips. His silver metal arm holding her up and his right hand holding the cup.

She was going to insist that she could do it herself but thought better of it for now. Stubbornness and pride would get her nowhere. After she had drunk more than half the cup she began to turn her head and Bucky took the cup away and set it on the table again.

He lay her back down on the couch gently, making sure that a pillow would cushion her head before settling back on the floor.

"How's your wound?" she croaked and she turned her head to try and get a good look at him.

Bucky's face darkened a little and he looked at her, "Why did you do that?"

She frowned, "You needed help." she replied as if it were obvious. What kind of question was that?

"I was fine." he insisted, his eyes narrowed and in them she saw something glimmer. Regret?

She snorted and then winced as the pain in her abdomen lanced up and down her side, "Sure let's just leave at that." she sighed and then looked down at herself. Her shirt was sticky with dried coagulated blood, her hands were covered with dried blood, there was a rip in her shirt that she hadn't noticed and she didn't even want to imagine what her face looked like now.

On the positive side however, she hadn't bled out in her sleep.

She reached down with a shaky hand and pulled her shirt up to reveal the mess of bandages she managed to wrap around her torso. She didn't notice Bucky's eyes widen and dart away to look at something else, anything else but at the wound that looked scarily similar to when he had first been hit yesterday.

Upon her examination, she noticed that the wound had clotted sufficiently enough that the bleeding had mostly stopped although there were small spots of fresh blood still soaking the bandage. She would have to make a trip to the emergency department to get this looked at but the critical point of danger had passed.

"Let me see your wound." she slid her shirt back down covering the bloody bandaged mess and turned to Bucky who was silently sitting there looking down at his hands.

He started at her words and looked up from his hands with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Well?" she looked at him expectantly and made to get up but was stopped by him. She needed to see if there had been any changes to his wound overnight.

Bucky clenched his jaw and then he sighed. Silently he lifted up his torn bloody shirt to reveal the clean bandage she had taped last night before half falling asleep and half blacking out.

She reached out and gingerly untaped it. Still a little bigger than a bottle cap and still looked a few weeks old. She gave a sigh of relief and then taped it back over, "Good." she nodded.

Bucky pulled his shirt back down and he sat back down on the floor next to her, "You're one of those people." his words fell through numb lips. It wasn't a surprise to him. It couldn't be, especially not after what he had experienced. It had just taken a little bit for him to be able to process it through his mind.

She froze at his words and suddenly her heart began to beat faster, "Are you going to tell someone?" she looked at him trying to keep her panic at bay. What had she expected though? For the first time she had used her gift on someone who hadn't been drugged up or unconscious. It was only natural that he would remember it and realize it.

"Why did you do it though?" he demanded to know again as if suddenly now realizing the full weight of the consequences of her gift. His blue eyes flashed and a cord in his neck stood out.

"I told you already." she replied trying to keep herself calm, "I mean what was I supposed to do? There's a man bleeding out on my couch who refuses to go to the hospital and who refuses the help my friend could have offered. You think anyone wants a dead person on their furniture?" she let out a harsh bark of laughter and looked him in the eyes.

Bucky blinked taken aback by the sudden outburst and then he offered her a half smile, "I guess that makes sense." he didn't know what else he could say because in the end, he was the one in the wrong. His chest clenched at the thought. He was always the one in the wrong.

"Please don't tell anyone." she tried to stop herself from sounding so damn pathetic but she had never been a good actor.

"I won't." his voice was soft, "I won't tell anyone."

She relaxed visibly and let out a small sigh of relief. Something about him told her that he would keep his word...or maybe she was being gullible. She pushed those thoughts away, what's done was done. There was nothing to be gained by thinking about it. She could only prepare herself, or try to prepare herself for what was to come.

"Do you...would you mind if..." Bucky began slowly trying to organize his thoughts as he spoke. In his situation he had no choice but to rely on this stranger, this woman he had intruded on and indirectly injured.

"If you could stay a few days?" She spoke up when he remained silent for a few moments. Why the hell not? She thought to herself as she looked at the surprised look take over Bucky's face.

"Are you...sure?" he asked hesitantly, "You may not know this but I'm b-"

"Being pursued." she finished for him and then sighed, "Might as well just stay since you're already here." she sighed. Her eyes studied the man still sitting on the floor next to her. There was something familiar about him, something that pulled and needled at the back of her head. Now that she had spent some time with this person, the picture was getting clearer but she still couldn't place his identity. It was like she had seen him somewhere before but only in passing. His brooding face, that synthetic arm with the red star painted at the shoulder base, dark hair that hung in his face…

"Oh my God." she gasped when the realization hit her like a ton of bricks, "You're-" she felt a rough hand clap over her mouth before she could say anything and her eyes widened when he leaned in close to her.

"Don't." he whispered looking straight into her eyes, "Please." There was a desperation on his face that made her pause.

After a tense moment, she slowly nodded her head and then breathed a sigh of relief when he released her.

The winter soldier. He was James Buchanan Barnes. This was getting crazier and crazier. How could she be this stupid and only realize it just now? What the hell was happening in the world right now?

Minutes slowly trickled by in silence as the two people tried to organize their thoughts. Their situations had just gotten a lot more complicated than they realized and for different reasons.

She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them, right now she didn't want to think about anything. Taking a deep breath she took a quick peek at Bucky, there was a dark expression on his face and his eyes were narrowed as he got lost in his thoughts.

"The shower is in my room. Last door on the right." her voice was unexpectedly loud after the silence that had dominated the room.

Bucky snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her in confusion.

"I mean, you don't want to stay like that do you?" she gestured at his bloody dirty state.

He blinked and looked down at himself, "Oh." he then looked at her, "Yeah. But what about you?"

"I think I'd rather sleep for a few more moments before I make an attempt." she replied after a moment blinking at him. Her body was starting to pull her back into sleep and she wasn't in the mood to fight back.

Bucky decided against saying anything else as he caught her eyes starting to close and stood up instead.

"Towels are in the cupboard in the bathroom." she opened her eyes and drowsily looked at him, "Can't do anything about your clothes though. Unless you don't have a problem wearing mine." she smiled at the thought.

"I've got a spare set." Bucky grabbed his backpack off the floor and turned around to head towards the bathroom. He was about to take a step towards her room when he paused and then turned back around to look down at her.

She tiredly looked up at him waiting for whatever he was about to say or whatever question he was going to ask.

"What's your name?" Bucky looked at her. He realized that he didn't know, he hadn't bothered to even ask.

Some of the sleep clouding her face cleared and for a moment she was too surprised at the unexpected question to answer. They stared at each other in silence, her mind busy with thoughts. But then she realized that he was still waiting for her to tell him.

She swallowed and opened her mouth.

"Melinda."

-.-.-.

comments appreciated :)


	3. Chapter 3

It felt like she had only just fallen asleep before being awoken again by a curt word and slight shake. But when Melinda checked the time she realized that hours had gone by and it was now late afternoon.

Bucky was again sitting next to her looking much cleaner and slightly refreshed. He was wearing a plain black t-shirt and a pair of faded jeans, his old clothes were nowhere in sight.

"Wanna eat?" he asked as he watched her look around. The place had been cleaned up while she had been sleeping. Bloodstains miraculously gone, bandages thrown in the trash, dirty towels soaking in cold water and bleach.

Melinda looked at him, "Eat?" she asked blankly and then she smelled the rich aroma of something wafting around her apartment. It smelled delicious. Her stomach gurgled loudly reminding her that she was...so hungry. How could she have forgotten something so important? She looked at Bucky, "You can cook?"

Bucky looked at her and then let out a short laugh before getting up from the floor and heading to the kitchen.

While he was clanking around in there, Melinda took the opportunity to look down at herself. She was still dressed in her bloodstained clothes but when she took a quick peek at her wound she realized that it had been carefully cleaned and redressed with fresh bandages. It looked much better than the mess she had wrapped around her waist before.

"Here." a bowl of a chunky stew suddenly appeared in her vision. Melinda followed the rough hand up to Bucky's expressionless face, "Hope you don't mind that I dug through your fridge."

"Thanks and I don't mind at all." she slowly pulled herself up refusing when Bucky reached out to help her, "What's in it?" Melinda asked panting slightly with the effort. The room spun and her heart raced but she didn't stop until she was sitting up leaning back against the arms of the couch.

Bucky stuck a spoon in the bowl and waited patiently for Melinda to catch her breath before reaching out for the bowl, "Try it and you'll see." He made sure she wouldn't drop it before letting go completely.

"Eat first." he nodded for her to take a bite, "I'll take you to the hospital after."

Melinda blew on a spoonful and stuck it in her mouth once it was sufficiently cool, "You _can_ cook." she muttered and proceeded to scarf the stew down chewing through chunks of beef and potatoes. Maybe it was because she hadn't eaten in a while but so far it was the best thing she had ever eaten.

Bucky suppressed a smile as he grabbed a chair from the dining table and placed it so that the coffee table was now in between them.

"Isn't it better if you don't go outside at all though?" she swallowed a chunk of tomato and looked at him from across the table. If he was being pursued...and there was no way he would lie about that, then wouldn't it be a better idea to stay out of sight?

Bucky was silent as he leaned forward to let his elbows rest on his thighs, "I'll manage." he replied conversationally and shrugged a little.

"You know I can just call my friend and ask her to take me." Melinda stuck another spoonful of stew in her mouth. Once she started eating, she found that she couldn't stop.

Bucky opened his mouth to say something but before he could, Melinda cut in, "Just..give me my phone please?" she looked at the kitchen table where it lay.

The man frowned but it seemed he agreed with Melinda and stood up to fulfill her request. He sat back down in his chair after handing it to her.

Melinda unlocked her phone, noticing that her phone was still decently charged. No missed phone calls, no missed texts or messages.

But of course. It had only been a day and everyone would have thought she was enjoying her 9 days off from work after three 12 hours shifts in a row, a day off, and then another three 12 hours shifts in a row.

But no. She wasn't enjoying it at all. Her stomach had a hole in it. She was having normal conversations with a complete stranger (a stranger she had only heard bits and pieces about from the news or gossip articles), and to top it all off she would be showing up in the ED as a patient where all her colleagues worked. It wasn't like going to another hospital was an option anyway. It was too damn far and out of the way.

Melinda checked the time before searching her phone for her friend. At this time her friend would have just been on her way to the hospital for night shift. Perfect.

It took a couple of rings before her friend picked up and after explaining her situation as best as she could without mentioning her gift or Bucky and after the initial shock wore off, her friend immediately agreed to escort her to the ED.

Melinda cut the line and then looked at Bucky sitting across from her, "So my friend is coming. Um...She'll be here in about 10 minutes." she was wondering how to tell him to hide himself when Bucky grinned. It was one thing to vaguely explain the wound she had but it was another thing to explain Bucky's presence. She couldn't lie since her friend was all about the Avengers and who was connected with who….maybe she could ask her about Bucky later. Melinda pushed that thought away for now but she would definitely be coming back to it.

"Don't worry about it." he nodded with understanding and then he looked at her, "But you might want to...at least wipe your hands or something." he walked to the kitchen, grabbed a towel from a drawer and wet it under the sink before bringing it over to her.

Melinda blinked at the dampened towel blankly and then at her hands still clutching the bowl and her phone, "Oh...yeah." she realized that taking a shower was out of the question now.

Bucky wordlessly took the empty bowl from her and handed her the wet towel before walking to the kitchen and setting the bowl in the sink before returning.

"Can you also go to my room and grab the shirt on my bed?" Melinda suddenly looked at Bucky as she wiped her hands, "It's the dark red shirt." she realized that she didn't want her friend to see her wearing a bloody shirt.

Wordlessly, Bucky turned and walked down the short hallway and disappeared in her room for a few moments before emerging through the doorway clutching the dark red shirt in his metal synthetic hand.

Melinda quietly wondered how the arm could move so effortlessly, so smoothly, and soundlessly.

The red shirt appeared in her face and after making sure her hands were relatively clean, she grabbed it with a quiet word of thanks. She paused and then looked up to ask Bucky if he could close his eyes or something but the man was already walking to the bathroom with his backpack in one hand.

She watched him for a moment surprised that he had already gone so far. The door clicked shut behind him leaving her alone on the couch in her small living room. Melinda looked down at the bloody rag in one hand and the red shirt in the other. The situation was surreal right now. This was reality right?

After tossing the rag onto the coffee table, she gingerly took her shirt off and slowly changed into the new shirt. The process was more painful than she would have liked but she couldn't complain. It could always be worse though...

Once she had changed, she crumpled her bloodstained shirt into a wad and tossed it onto the coffee table where it fell next to the wet rag.

She then grabbed her phone that was resting on her thigh and turned on the front camera.

"Of course." Melinda muttered when she saw herself on the screen. She couldn't even laugh at what stared back at her. Her makeup was a mess, the dark circles under her eyes made her want to cry, her hair was greasy and a few strands were stuck to the sides of her face, dried together by sweat, and just her face in general…

"My God." Melinda whispered, she couldn't even look away. She looked **rough** and had to wonder how Bucky had looked at her with a straight face.

It was a small miracle that she didn't have blood smeared all over her face. She would have looked like a crazy psychopathic killer.

A loud sharp knock startled Melinda into dropping her phone and she froze, her ears straining.

"Melinda?" a muffled familiar voice sounded through the door, "It's me, Danae! I'm here to pick you up!"

Melinda immediately relaxed, her heart still beating fast, "Come in! The door is unlocked." she called. She almost didn't remember that the door hadn't been locked since she herself had come in through it.

The handle turned and the door opened silently revealing her friend standing in the doorway dressed in the standard navy blue scrubs and a black fleece jacket, her badge clipped to the low v shaped collar, and her stethoscope already draped around her neck.

Danae's eyes scanned Melinda from head to toe and then she sighed heavily, "What on earth happened to you?" she shut the door behind her and quickly walked over to where Melinda was still half lying and half sitting on the couch.

"It was just a stupid accident." Melinda replied vaguely and slowly swung her body around so that her feet were now on the floor. She didn't know how to explain this to Danae or to anyone for that matter and hoped that no one would press her for answers.

"I'm going to do a little check up on it okay?" Danae sat beside Melinda and looked at her. They both knew that she wasn't really asking for permission.

"Do your thing." Melinda sighed in resignation and settled back into the couch. Once Danae had a goal in mind, she would get to it no matter what and everyone on the unit knew that, even the physicians. But it was something that made her a good nurse and one of the best patient advocates.

Danae gently lifted Melinda's shirt and peeled back the bandage, her eyes narrowed at what she saw but she didn't say anything as she examined it. After what seemed like the longest few minutes of Melinda's life, Danae finally taped the bandage back over the wound and let the shirt drop back over it.

"Well, you're definitely going to need stitches for that one." Danae finally said and stood up.

Melinda let out a bark of laughter and then winced at the pain, "You think?" she sighed and made sure she had her phone with her before preparing herself to walk.

"You're lucky though. It doesn't look infected." Danae reached out an arm to help Melinda up and once she was stable enough to walk, they both hobbled their way to the entrance.

Danae had grabbed Melinda's keys and her purse before they both made their way out the door. As they walked, Melinda couldn't help but feel a little guilty. She knew Danae had more questions to ask and that there were things that she was curious about, but she wasn't asking because she respected Melinda's privacy and situation.

Danae locked the door to Melinda's apartment with her free hand and took the elevator down to the ground floor of the parking garage. Walking wasn't as bad as she originally thought it would be but her wound still throbbed painfully. By the time she was sitting in the passenger seat of Danae's car a thin sheen of sweat had covered Melinda's forehead and she was out of breath.

"You know, I was going to send you text asking you how your small break was going." Danae strapped her seatbelt on and started the car engine.

Melinda grinned tiredly, "Didn't expect this did you?" she buckled her own seatbelt on as Danae turned the headlights on.

"You know everyone else is going to be surprised too." Danae let out a little laugh as she drove out of the garage.

The drive was uneventful, the two friends only talking about work, asshole physician residents, and other various things. Neither mentioned Melinda's injury and Danae didn't ask about it either.

After about 10 minutes, Danae turned a corner and the hospital appeared in front of them a little ways down. With every passing second that they grew closer to the hospital, Melinda began to grow a little apprehensive. But why? She hadn't done anything wrong. In fact she had saved a life, she shouldn't be feeling like some criminal.

"We're here." Danae pulled into the emergency department quick drop off and parked the car.

"The drop off?" Melinda looked at Danae, "You could have just parked the car at a lot and we could have just walked you know." she felt bad. She knew Danae was doing this so she wouldn't have to walk a lot even though she would have to walk back out and park the car in the employee lots. And the employee lots were...a little far.

Danae shrugged and undid her seatbelt, "It's fine." she took her keys out and got out of the car to the passenger side and helped Melinda out. They both slowly made their way into the lobby of the emergency department.

The place wasn't as busy as she had expected it to be, only one or two people sitting in chairs waiting for their names to be called. Melinda checked the time as they both walked to the front desk and realized that shift reports had already been done. Most of the craziness had already passed.

Melinda just hoped that the bad feeling in her stomach was a case of nerves...or something. She looked around the almost empty lobby trying to figure out why her workplace just seemed so different now. Maybe it was because she was here during night shift and not the usual day shift.

It took a few minutes for Melinda to fill out some basic paperwork and after explaining the nature of her visit, the nurse sitting next to the secretary took her to an examination room located next to the double doors leading into the unit.

Danae had excused herself as Melinda was being helped into the room by the nurse and walked out to her car.

The nurse opened the door for her and helped her inside the room. Once she was seated on the table covered in a thin sheet of paper, the nurse excused himself and walked out saying he had forgotten something.

Almost as soon as the nurse left, another person walked inside the room.

Melinda looked up expecting to see the same nurse who had helped her, but sat still in confusion at the person who entered the room instead, "Um?" she looked the person up and down. Definitely not a nurse, or healthcare worker for that matter, "Who are you?" she asked but as she continued to look at him there was a small jolt of recognition. Why was this person _here_ of all places?

The man just smiled and stuck out a hand, "Tony Stark." his voice was flippant but warm.

Melinda looked at the offered hand and then looked back up at his smiling face. The bad feeling in her stomach grew but she reached out and shook Tony's hand anyway. There couldn't be a good reason for this visit, Melinda swallowed and her mind darted to Bucky before focusing on the man dressed in a pretentious silk suit standing in front of her.


	4. Chapter 4

"My name is-" Melinda opened her mouth but before she could finish, Tony Stark held a hand up and nodded.

"Melinda. Yeah. I know." he then sat down in the only chair in the examination room and wheeled it in front of the table that Melinda was sitting on.

She shut her mouth and just watched Tony pull out his phone and tap it a few times before finally putting it away. So he knew her. But then what should she have expected? Whatever it was that Ironman wanted from her, he had come after reading whatever information his people...or 'computer' had pulled on her.

He looked up at her with a sly smile on his face.

"Any ideas on why you think I'm here?" Tony leaned back in the chair and crossed his legs apparently getting comfortable, "And don't worry, someone I know will look after your-" he gestured at the area of her injury with his hands, "So any guesses?" he then crossed his arms over his chest and looked at her expectantly.

Melinda blinked, her mind was turning fast as she flipped through every possibility she could think of but none really stood out to her. Her only conclusion led her to Bucky. But why?

She looked at Tony, "I'm not sure." she finally replied, but her heart was beating fast. Was Bucky being pursued by these people? The Avengers?

Tony grinned at her and he uncrossed his legs and clapped his hands on each thigh, "I thought not." he stood up enthusiastically and began to pace slowly.

Melinda silently watched the man walk around the small room. Suddenly, her wound seemed like the least of her worries because right now the bad feeling in her stomach was festering and growing wildly.

Tony suddenly turned to her and pointed his finger at Melinda, "You, I've been hearing some very interesting things from people who come out of this hospital." His hand went back down to his side, "The first time was by chance though of course." his tone was as flippant as ever but there was a newfound enthusiasm in it that she could hear.

The moment of relief she felt was short lived when she realized that his visit wasn't about Bucky but then a different type of fear rose up inside of her altogether.

"What do you want?" she asked getting straight to the point. She didn't have time to hear this guy beat around the bush and walk around in circles for 10 minutes before getting to a semi-proper explanation.

Oh, she knew who Tony Stark was, knew who the Iron Man was and unlike any other people she wasn't dying to meet him or any of the others for that matter.

If anything, trouble followed the touted 'superheroes' and she had never wanted anything to do with them. Sure they fought to protect the civilians...the world..whatever, and they did. But it was also a fact that wherever they fought, wherever they _went_ , the aftermath was always the same.

She knew that the ones mostly at fault were the 'villains', the ones who wanted to rule over the earth or destroy it or whatever, but Melinda had taken care of enough victims who had lived through those fights to also feel resentment towards **them**. Those 'heroes' everyone raved about.

So the bad guys were gone, defeated? Then those 'superheroes' would leave too. It was a tough fight for them? Well, the civilians out there were still fighting. It would take months to repair the roads, the buildings, it would take years to get back into the normal rhythm of life. Homes were crushed, parents gone, children gone, people were injured, jobs would be lost...it was a never ending list of things.

"What do you want?" Melinda repeated when there was no answer the first time. She didn't have time for this billionaire's flippant whims and selfishness.

Tony stopped pacing and looked at her suddenly, "You certainly take the fun out of things don't you." he muttered under his breath. His face had settled back into its business mask and he took his phone out of his pocket.

Melinda was about to make a retort of her own but thought better of it and instead bit down on her tongue. Nothing would deflate this egotistical billionaire's head.

Tony unlocked his phone and pressed something before showing Melinda the screen. She watched silently and realized with shock that it was a video footage of her at the park healing a little kid's scrape on the knee. It had happened a year ago while she passed by the park on her way to a store. The child had been inconsolable and alone. Apparently he had runaway from home because they wouldn't let him have icecream for dinner.

Her form on the screen looked around to check her surroundings, and when she saw that they were alone, she bent over the child's wounded knee for a minute or two before finally pulling away revealing a smooth unblemished limb. Small scrapes and cuts didn't require a physical joining and took only minutes for her to transfer or 'heal'.

Melinda pursed her lips and looked away from the phone screen. Out of all the things to forget...so stupid. She had been so stupid and weak hearted over a crying child.

Tony locked the screen on his phone and stowed it back in the breast pocket of his silk jacket, "So yeah." he cocked his head at her almost like a hawk watching its prey.

"So?" she looked him straight in the eyes, "What about it?" she couldn't deny it, she couldn't do anything else but meet this...whatever it was, straight on.

Tony's mouth slowly started to curl up into a smile as they looked at each other, "I want you to join us."

There was a profound silence in the tiny exam room as Melinda tried to process what Tony had said.

"No." the word already came out before she realized it but she wouldn't take it back. Melinda's eyes narrowed as she stared at Tony Stark and tried to read his intentions. People who joined the Avengers were people who had the means to combat 'the bad guys'. Someone with abilities like hers would only end up being used and thrown away.

Tony's face maintained the grin he had on, "I promise we're not here to use you or anything cynical that you're thinking right now." he crossed his legs again, "I'm offering you a chance to…" he paused and circled a hand in the air, "Oh what's the word." he looked at Melinda and then his eyes seemed to glitter, " _Research_ your abilities further and you know, discover hidden potential."

It was now that Melinda was starting to realize how Tony Stark had gotten as far as he had. Sure he was smart, sure his parents had basically laid the groundwork for his wealth and business. But this guy knew how to deal with people. He knew how to play them by their heartstrings and if that didn't work, he always had something else to ensure cooperation.

He didn't threaten her outright, he didn't have to. Just by showing her the security footage from his phone he had shown her what he was capable of.

"Let me think about it then." Melinda finally replied. She decided that this was the safest way to answer for now.

Tony nodded and stood up, "I will be back for a definite answer in a week." he stuck out a hand, "It was nice meeting you today."

Melinda forced herself to shake his hand once more, "Likewise ." her lips were numb but she forced a smile.

"Oh and my assistant will be here." Tony was about to step out of the room, his hand on the door handle, "She'll be taking care of everything." and without another glance behind, he opened the door and left.

Melinda breathed out trying to process everything. Tony had been like a storm, forcing everything to go his way and then suddenly just leaving after inducing all kinds of chaos.

"If you could just sit in this wheelchair." a quiet voice startled Melinda into jerking and she rapidly looked towards the door where the voice sounded from.

A tall slim woman with strawberry red hair clipped back stood in the doorway. She was dressed in a crisp white suit and holding onto a folder in one hand and a cellphone in another. She smiled slightly when Melinda locked eyes with her and gestured at the chair in front of her.

"Ah, I suppose you'd need help." the woman smiled a little sheepishly and then stepped around to help Melinda get up and settle into the chair, "By the way, my name is Pepper."

She opened the door wide enough so that she could push Melinda through the entrance and as she walked outside two men in white lab coats began to lead the way. She had never seen them before in the hospital.

"Melinda." she introduced herself as the two men led the women deeper into the hospital unit and out of the ED into one of the connecting hallways.

"It's nice meeting you Melinda." Pepper pushed her along, her heels clicking with each step she took, "I'm sorry about Tony. He can be very pushy sometimes." she sounded like a mother apologizing for the bad behavior of her son.

Melinda couldn't help but let out a short laugh and then winced as her wound strained, "You don't say." she looked around and then, "Where are we going?" she realized that she had never been in this part of the hospital.

The two men stopped in front of an elevator and one of them pressed a button. The button lit up and there was a small _ding_ before the doors silently slid open to reveal a plain black metal interior.

The two men gestured for Pepper to wheel in Melinda first before stepping inside the elevator themselves.

"It's not really a secret but not a lot of people know either." Pepper began to speak as the doors closed, "But this hospital has its own research facility that Tony...er Mr. Stark invested in. No one really knows this but he actually comes here himself at times."

Melinda blinked at the information, "What?" she instinctively turned her head to look up at Pepper who blinked back at her and gave her a small smile.

They all felt the elevator move up with a slight jerk.

"There's a new piece of technology that Mr. Stark invested in." Pepper continued, "It may sound a little strange but basically, this device accelerates cell division. It should heal your injury in about an hour or two."

It didn't sound strange to her at all. It would only be weird if a human could do something like that, not a machine.

The elevator stopped moving and came to a complete standstill before the doors slid open revealing a singular hallway with white walls leading straight to what looked like a thick metal door with a black panel on it.

When they reached the door, the taller of the two men reached out and slid the black panel open revealing a black rectangular screen. He pressed his hand onto it and a light scanned it once before turning blue. The other man did the same and when the light turned blue for him, Pepper stepped around and pressed a metal card onto the screen this time and when the scanning light turned purple the thick metal door popped and silently opened a crack.

One of the two men pushed the door open which swung inwardly without a noise and the two men stepped inside leaving Pepper and Melinda still outside the lab.

"Well, let's get on with this." Pepper slid the metal card inside the breast pocket of her suit and then wheeled Melinda into the lab.

The lab was huge. Rows and rows of equipment, table after table was filled with pieces of metal that Melinda could never hope to understand. There were clear screens everywhere that had a bunch of numbers running on them. From time to time one of the monitors beeped, some blinked green and blue lights, and others stayed still and silent.

Melinda didn't even know that there was a back to the lab until Pepper wheeled her around a sharp corner into a slightly hidden hall. It was a short hall but at the end there was a glass room and inside she could see the two men from earlier tapping away at the monitors surrounding a large piece of equipment covered in a thick plastic sheet.

As she was wheeled closer and closer, a sense of dread started to rise up inside of her. It's not that she didn't have faith in Stark's technological abilities and his head for genius. Rather, she was just starting to realize how far in this 'mess' she was already in.

"It won't hurt." Pepper mistook Melinda's silence for fear. The glass door slid open for them, "Tony tested this on himself and made sure it worked properly before having it used on others."

One of the two men grabbed the plastic sheet and ripped it off the large device. To be honest, to Melinda it didn't look any more different than an open MRI machine. Only instead of being all white, the machine was all black and there was a slim white boxy looking attachment built into the top portion of the MRI where she would be laying.

Pepper wheeled Melinda closer to the machine, "I'm assuming you know what an MRI is." she stepped around to a clear screen and began to tap away at a few things, "All you have to do is lie down in there for about an hour."

The two men in white lab coats finished what they were doing and opened the door to the control room where the cameras and device controls were.

"You might feel uncomfortable with this but you'll have to take your shirt and bandages off." Pepper gave the screen a final tap before turning to look at Melinda, "The light the device emits is what makes it actually work." she gestured at the white part of the machine.

"It's fine." Melinda nodded and she proceeded to strip her shirt off leaving her with her bra on and with Pepper's help, the bandages were soon off as well. She never had an embarrassment with letting people see her, she worked in a hospital. Healthcare providers saw everything all the time. It was just another body part.

The wound was clean but still a little bloody and raw. There was no fresh bleeding but she knew that she had lost a lot of blood anyway from giving a good portion of it to Bucky and losing it through her initial acquirement of the wound.

Pepper slowly helped Melinda up from the chair and onto the flat surface of the device, "Like I said earlier, it should take about an hour or two. During that time feel free to sleep a little." she gave Melinda a small smile, "I'll wake you up and take you home afterwards." and then without another word, she turned around and _click clack_ ed out of the room and into the control room. The door slid shut silently behind her.

As the machine slowly pulled Melinda back in between its top and bottom surfaces she couldn't help but think about Bucky and the look Tony had given her when he talked about her wound briefly. Did he know? Or was she just overthinking things again?


	5. Chapter 5

It turns out that Melinda couldn't fall asleep at all even though she tried. The machine was just too damn loud and Tony Stark's visit didn't do her any favors. So she lay there on the hard flat surface and just looked up at the white plastic above her thinking about various things.

Melinda tried to ignore the loud screeching of the machine and couldn't help but feel a little self deprecation. How was it that she could.. _heal_ other people in a way, but she couldn't heal herself? Maybe she had done something terrible in a past life to deserve this.

In all her years, Melinda had never particularly liked her gift. Sure, it helped other people but it never helped **her.** She learned the hard way to keep her mouth shut about her gift at the tender age of 9 years old and since then had only used her gift a handful of times. Yet, those rare occasions somehow made their way into Tony Stark's ears.

"Are you awake?" a voice startled Melinda out of her thoughts and she found herself being slowly moved out from the machine.

She hadn't noticed the machine's noises die down or the _clacking_ of Pepper's shoes against the hard floor as she made her way over to Melinda.

"Is it done already?" Melinda blinked in surprise and then she instinctively looked down at her torso where she expected the wound to be. Smooth skin. Unblemished and even.

There was no injury. It was like it never happened.

Melinda looked back up at Pepper, "Wow." she blinked and let the machine slide her all the way out before slowly sitting up. This device was a miracle. There was no need to transfer the wound to someone else and there was no need to feel someone else's pain.

Pepper smiled and handed Melinda her shirt back, "One of the physicians here will do a general work up of you and once they're sure that everything is okay, then I'll take you back to your place." she turned her head as one of the men from before stepped out of the control room.

Melinda quickly slid her shirt over her head and got dressed before introducing herself.

"This is doctor Logan." Pepper stepped slightly to the side as the thin man came to a stop in front of her, "He's just going to do a quick checkup."

Melinda looked at the smiling man in front of her, "Hello." she greeted quietly. In all her years of working at this hospital, she had never seen or heard of a doctor Logan in any of the units. Was he new? He was a thin man with a bulbous nose and large brown eyes. His head was shaved but if he had let his hair grow out, it would have been thick and dark brown. Overall, it was an unimpressive appearance. He was someone who could blend into crowds easily and be forgotten in the blink of an eye.

The doctor nodded back slightly and then stepped aside to reveal the silver tray he had been standing in front of, "I'm just going to draw a tiny bit of blood from you." he donned a pair of purple latex gloves, "Which is a little ironic given the fact that you've probably lost a lot." he grabbed a blue rubber tourniquet and turned to her expectantly.

Melinda couldn't help but eye the tray full of equipment apprehensively. She had done enough blood draws to know how the procedure went but she felt a little weird being the person who was poked than being the one doing the poking.

Sighing, she stuck out her left arm and Logan quickly tied the tourniquet around her upper arm before ripping out an alcoholic swab. Gentle but efficient fingers lightly felt for bouncy veins that promised an easy stick and lots of blood.

It took a few minutes before the doctor finally found a vein he was satisfied with but when he did, he stuck the needle in and drew the blood within seconds.

As Melinda waited for her labs to be processed and the results to come out, her hand absently wandered to the area where the injury had been. If Tony had a device that could do the same thing she could but without any negative consequences, why did he want her to join the 'team'? Was he implying that there was more to her gift than she thought?

She frowned at the possibility and tried to shake those thoughts away. Impossible. The times she experimented with her so called 'gift' only brought her to one conclusion, that ultimately, if she chose to do so for whatever reason, she could sacrifice her life for another. It was the very heart of what her gift was and nothing else.

Back in the apartment Bucky had cleaned up everything he could clean up without invading Melinda's privacy more than he had. He cooked steak and vegetables (all things that he found in her freezer) and then proceeded to lie back down on the couch.

He was actually bored. Whether it was good or bad he wasn't sure, but he did know that if he was bored it mean he was at peace. Well...for now that is.

How had he snapped out of **it**? His thoughts finally wandered to the current situation at hand. **Who** had done it to him? Who had said those despicable words to him? To turn him into the Winter Soldier. What even happened?

All he remembered was walking down a dark tunnel on his way back to a new place he had managed to rent. He remembered smelling the strong scent of cigarettes and those words being said over and over again each time with renewed purpose. Then nothing.

Bucky could only imagine what had happened next. His left shoulder ached and unconsciously he rubbed it with his right hand. To be honest, he didn't exactly know what kind of person he turned into. He just knew that they were completely different. One was a monster and the other...well he didn't know that either. Maybe he was a monster too.

Even in this new era...this modern world, he couldn't get away from his past. The only thing he could do was keep running and hope the people who wanted to use him never caught up to him.

When Bucky looked at the clock hanging on the wall he realized that half the night had already passed by. It was 0214 and the woman still wasn't back. He looked around realizing that he was sitting in complete darkness and got up to turn some of the lights on.

Had the wound been that bad? Bucky sat back down on the couch, his elbows on his thighs and hands clasped together. He then lifted his shirt, took off the gauze band aid and examined the injury. There would be a little indentation where the wound was but other than that it would heal just fine from what he could gather.

Her ability was...interesting. He hadn't even fathomed that there could be someone with an ability like hers. If word got out about her...Bucky frowned as he thought about it. No matter what, he would have to make sure to keep an eye out for her.

Steve's words were coming back to him. _Keep an eye on her Bucky._ He didn't know what Steve meant by those words back then but he certainly knew now.

He remembered talking with Steve a while ago about some emergency measures. Somehow Melinda came up and Steve had suggested remembering her address in case of an emergency. Bucky thought that he'd never really have a need to find this woman but he had been desperate after being injured. He had unexpectedly panicked and the first thing he remembered had been her address.

Steve hadn't gone into detail about this woman, just that it was likely that she would help. To Bucky it seemed like Steve hadn't wanted to explain more than the necessities to him. Steve hadn't even told really told him about Melinda being 'gifted', just that she would help.

A clack startled Bucky out of his thoughts and his body immediately tensed. Was it Melinda? There was the jangling of keys and then a click as the door unlocked. But there was a possibility that it was someone else. His heart beat fast as he tried to sit still. He was thinking too much. This woman lived a normal life.

"You're still up?" Melinda stood in the doorway holding her keys and phone. She looked much better now than when she left with her friend.

Bucky relaxed, of course it was Melinda, "I wasn't really tired." he shrugged and stood up, "I thought you'd be staying overnight at the hospital or something." he was a bit freer with words now than he had been before.

Melinda walked in and locked the door before walking into the kitchen, "I thought so too." she looked around a little surprised at how clean it was, "Apparently, they have this new machine." she looked in the fridge for some food, "It heals injuries but it takes like an hour or 2."

"Here." Bucky quietly handed Melinda a plate covered in some plastic wrap. She straightened up and shut the fridge door looking a bit surprised.

"Oh." Melinda blinked and took the plate of food from him, "Thank you." she smiled gratefully and after grabbing a fork and knife from a drawer she sat down at the table, "What about you?" she asked realizing that she was the only one with a plate.

"I already ate." he replied, "So, a new machine?" Bucky sat at the table across from her.

"Oh. Are you sure?" she asked before cutting into the steak.

Bucky nodded and just gestured for her to eat.

The food was still warm to Melinda's surprise, how did he do it? She wondered as she chewed through a bite of steak. He was a surprisingly good cook.

"Yeah, Stark made it. Apparently he has a secret research facility in the hospital I work at." Melinda replied once she swallowed. She had a strange feeling sitting in her stomach as she talked. It had been a long time since someone other than her family sat down across from her and talked like this with her. It had been even longer since someone else made her a meal.

She had just been so used to being by herself and doing things for herself that she didn't exactly know how to feel about this.

Bucky's eyebrows raised, "At your hospital?" he was careful not to exert too much pressure on the table with his synthetic arm as he rested his elbows on the surface.

"Weird right?" Melinda speared a carrot with her fork debating whether or not she should say something about meeting Stark. She thought better of it and stuck the carrot into her mouth. Besides, her meeting with Stark had nothing to do with Bucky, if the billionaire had brought Bucky up then she would have felt obligated to say something.

Bucky studied Melinda's face for a few seconds before shrugging. He chose not to ask anything else as she ate. Some people liked to have their secrets.

When she was done, Melinda did the dishes even when Bucky tried to do them himself saying that it was the least he could do.

"Besides, you cooked." Melinda grinned at Bucky who was sitting on the couch looking a little peeved. She wiped her hands on a clean towel hanging on the oven handle before walking over to the seat next to Bucky.

"Can I see the wound?" she asked when she sat down across from him.

He paused and then revealed the healing injury to her silently. Melinda leaned in closer noting that there wasn't any drainage, inflammation, or smell.

"Good." she murmured, it wasn't infected and it was healing very nicely. Once she finished inspecting the wound she straightened up and settled back into her seat.

Bucky taped the gauze back over it and tugged his shirt down, "All good?" he asked.

"All good." Melinda grinned, "It's healing up better than I expected it to." she yawned, "You'll still have to be careful since it could open up but after about a week or so it should be okay." she thought that she would have had to suture it but changed her mind after seeing it. He seemed to be fast healer.

"I'll be going to sleep now." Melinda stood up suddenly breaking the silence that had fallen over them.

Bucky looked at her, "Oh yeah." he didn't move from where he sat, "Goodnight." he gave her a little nod.

"Are you going to sleep?" Melinda looked at him already thinking about the long shower she was going to take.

Bucky gave her a little grin, "A little later." he nodded, "I have to do a few things first." he grabbed his backpack and pulled out a thin black laptop.

"Oh okay then." Melinda retreated back into her bedroom to grab a new set of clothes before heading into the bathroom.

Now that she was thinking about it, weren't they acting a bit too normal with each other? Melinda locked the bathroom door behind her and turned the shower on.

She stared at her reflection and then looked down at the counter covered in her things. Makeup, pamphlets, brushes, packets of alcohol swabs...Melinda frowned and pushed away all thoughts from her mind. There was no use trying to make sense of everything going on right now. She would have to go with the flow.

On the couch outside the bathroom, Bucky had put his laptop away and had taken out the bulky flip phone that Steve had given him before they parted ways. He heard the shower water turn on from inside the bathroom and when he determined that Melinda wouldn't be coming out for whatever reason, Bucky flipped the phone open and found that he had a text message waiting for him.

:

 **Bucky, I'm assuming that you got away safe. I won't ask where you are but you should lay low for a couple of days. They're going crazy looking for you.**

 **Steve**

:

Bucky reread the message and then deleted it. Steve had sent him the text yesterday around the time Bucky had woken up to a half healed wound and an unconscious lady sprawled on the floor next to the couch he was on.

Sighing, he stowed the cellphone away back into his already stuffed backpack and set it aside. He knew that he'd be staying there for a couple of days but after that text message, the reality sank in.

What had he done this time?

Bucky leaned forward and rested his elbows on his thighs trying desperately to remember what had happened. But as usual, there was nothing. He would just have to deal with it. Like always and try not to get himself killed.

comments appreciated :)


	6. Chapter 6

Their days fell into an easy and comfortable rhythm. When Melinda's vacation ended and she went back to work on day shift, she would come home at around 8pm, sometimes 9 or 10 depending on what happened at the hospital.

On days that she worked, Bucky would cook and clean the apartment, with the exception of her room (it was an unspoken rule between them). They would sit down and eat their meal together while talking about Melinda's day and other light hearted subjects like the weather. They didn't exchange any type of contact information with each other.

On her days off from work, the daily schedule would change a bit. Sometimes, she would go shopping by herself for food and other necessities that Bucky needed. Other times she would either go out with a friend for lunch or she would stay in with Bucky and they'd make food together and watch shows on TV. Bucky never went outside and Melinda didn't ask.

They didn't make an effort to get to know each other. Only to live together for the short time that Bucky was going to stay.

Melinda didn't know how Bucky felt about living like this other than feeling stuffed and restless from having to stay inside all the time. But it almost felt like she had a prisoner in her apartment. A polite one at that.

"So how was your day?" Bucky asked as they both sat down to eat their dinner. They had become more casual with each other but still maintained a polite distance.

Melinda sighed and rubbed her eyes, "Long." she dug into the plate of food before her, "This lady didn't call for help before getting up from the bed and she fell."

Bucky snorted and shook his head, "So you had to fill out paperwork." he shoveled a forkful of buttered potatoes into his mouth. From what he had heard during their conversations, filling out paperwork and charting were the most time consuming things things that she had to do hourly.

"We had to get a lift machine for her." Melinda rolled her shoulders before continuing to eat, "I specifically told her to call me if she had to get up." Melinda griped in frustration, "She is on medication that causes dizziness." she sighed and then leaned back into her chair.

"At least she won't make that mistake again." Bucky grinned his lopsided grin at her before grabbing his cup of water.

Melinda sighed, "If only." she muttered and then she resumed eating, "So how was your day?" she asked even though she knew the answer.

"Pretty boring." Bucky replied, "But I don't mind it." he shrugged as he picked up his fork to eat. And it was the truth, he honestly didn't mind it.

Their dinner ended politely with Melinda doing the dishes and Bucky drying them with a towel. They silently stood side by side together until all the dishes were done and then bid each other goodnight.

Melinda went back into her room to grab her clothes so that she could shower and Bucky went back to the couch and pulled out his laptop.

She never knew what Bucky did on it, but whenever he was tapping away on it, he had the most serious expression on his face. His silver arm glinted brightly in the dim light of the apartment and only seemed that much more noticeable because of his black sweats and black shirt.

Silently, Melinda went into the bathroom to take her shower. Her mind went back to the events that occurred during the day. She hadn't exactly been agitated because of that lady who refused to comply with her instructions about the call button, no, she was mostly agitated because of Tony Stark.

True to his words, he returned a week later and in true Melinda fashion, she had forgotten that today had been exactly that day. She had been in the middle of trying to remember what times she gave medication to 5 of her patients so that she could chart it on the computer when the nurse manager called on her to go to the conference room.

When she got there, Tony Stark was sitting in one of the chairs with his arms crossed over his chest. That smug grin on his face.

"So what will it be?" were the first words out of his mouth as soon as she took a seat across the table from him. He had that thin sly smile curled up on his face as he looked at her expectantly.

"I don't really have a choice do I." she leaned back in her own seat sighing as she thought about the video that Tony had shown her a week ago.

Tony tapped the table with his fingers as he looked at her, the smile still on his face, "Not exactly." he confirmed.

Melinda frowned at the response. Of course it was the expected response from him, but hearing it said out loud pricked her with irritation.

"That being said, you're not really going out into the field you know?" Tony looked at her.

"Then why-?" Melinda began when Tony held up a hand.

"It won't be necessary for you to use your...ability either." Tony continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "That device will do it all." he then shut his mouth and looked at Melinda cryptically, "For now, we'll just be doing more research on your ability."

Melinda raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, she really had no idea what this man was thinking. Did she really have to join up in order for him to do some reasearch on her?

"You also won't have to take any time off from work." Tony grinned at her, "We'll work around your schedule." and after those words, he had stood up and left.

Melinda couldn't figure out what Tony was thinking and even though the arrangement didn't really inconvenience her in any way, something about it gave her a bad feeling. Sighing, she hurriedly went through her shower routine. Her feet and lower back were killing her and all she wanted to do was get into her bed and sleep. It was a good thing that she had the day off tomorrow.

When she woke up the next day it was only 8 in the morning. Since she couldn't go back to sleep, she pulled herself out of bed and walked out of her room to the bathroom, her eyes still half closed from sleep.

She normally woke up mid afternoon after her last shift but for some reason her body insisted on staying up. Probably because she had to empty her bladder.

"Morning." a quiet voice made her eyes snap open and she realized that she had almost collided into Bucky who was on his way out.

"Oh." Melinda blinked at him. He was wearing nothing but a pair of black sweats and had one of her white towels slung around his broad shoulders, "Morning."

They stood there awkwardly for a moment before they moved aside to let each other was another pause but but then Melinda gestured for the man to pass. As Bucky passed she saw that a corner of his mouth had curved up into a little smirk.

That bastard. Melinda bit the inside of her cheek as she walked into the bathroom. He saw how her eyes lingered on his chest and arms for a few seconds longer than the norm.

She shut the door behind her and turned the lock until it clicked into place.

"Well that was a little awkward." Melinda muttered to herself as she turned around. She could feel the humidity in the air and she could still smell the soap and shampoo lingering behind. It was still a strange feeling to be living with someone else. What made it even weirder was that she had essentially taken in a hurt but dangerous stranger whose face she had seen only on the TV screen. But it was a little too late to be thinking about that.

As she used the toilet she mentally made a list of what to do that day. She might as well take a shower and get ready to go out since she was up anyway. Getting ready to go out didn't take that long for Melinda, working as a nurse didn't leave her with a lot of patience to stand in front of the mirror for longer than 15 minutes and by now she was used to it. She applied moisturizer to her face, tinted sunblock, and covered up a few spots on her cheeks with concealer and then brushed some loose powder over her face. She filled in her eyebrows, brushed some mascara on, and applied black eyeliner on her upper eyelid with a brush.

By the time she had fixed her hair and applied a colored lip balm, ten minutes had passed and she was done.

"I'm heading out today, is there anything you need?" Melinda had put on a pair of white pants and a denim shirt open at the collar. She knew she needed cat food for sure but what else…

Bucky sat on the couch, he now wore a plain black shirt, and the towel that had been around his shoulder was now over his head like a hood to dry his hair. His left arm glinted coldly in the morning sunlight streaming in through the windows.

Melinda adjusted the dark brown leather bag around her shoulder and looked at Bucky expectantly. He had been tapping away on his black laptop like usual but at the sound of her voice he had looked up from the screen and at her.

"I don't really think so." his voice was quiet, all traces of the mischievous

smirk from earlier was gone, "Maybe some more cat food." he added as an afterthought. As if on cue, Melinda's fluffy white cat crawled out from underneath the couch and trotted over to Melinda rubbing her side against her leg.

Melinda grinned and gave Lily a little scratch beneath her chin, "Good thinking." she glanced at Bucky who was watching them with an unreadable expression on his face, "Anything else you might need?" she asked as she straightened up.

Lily stretched out her legs and arched her back as she made her way to the kitchen where her food bowl was. Ever since Bucky had made an unexpected appearance in the apartment, Lily had spent half her time sleeping near Bucky and the other half in Melinda's room almost as if she was a mother dividing her time between two children.

"I can't really think of anything." Bucky shrugged with a little lopsided smile.

"Alright then." Melinda smiled back and made her way to the door as she checked her bag to make sure she had everything she needed, "Then I'll be back in a few hours." she grabbed her keys, "Be good while I'm gone." she joked and gave Bucky a look as she opened the door.

"I'll do my best." Bucky gave a soft little laugh and even offered a small wave before she turned around and shut it behind her.

There was silence after the little metallic click of the lock as Melinda walked away.

Bucky sat there on the couch a little disturbed by the feeling of peace he was experiencing. Had he gotten too used to staying here? Thinking about it from the woman's point of view, he was only a burden and besides, his wound didn't really bother him anymore. He didn't have a reason..or excuse to stay any longer. It was also a matter of time before his pursuers found out where he was staying and he didn't want to drag Melinda into his mess anymore than he already had. A flurry of thoughts began to torpedo around in his mind as he tried to come up with a plan.

He knew he couldn't contact Steve at the moment, it might still be too early to assume that a majority of the mess was blowing over. In any case, he would have to intrude in this woman's life a little bit longer before disappearing.

But even at the thought of it, he felt a bit of uncertainty needle at him. He didn't know what it was that bothered him but something about the current situation left a bad taste in his mouth.

Melinda lugged a large bag of cat food into the back seat of her car and shut the door. That should be enough for a while she thought to herself as she got into the driver's seat of the car.

She buckled in her seat belt and stuck the key into the ignition and was about to turn it when something in the passenger seat caught her eye. Adrenaline rushed through her body as fear began to stick her heart, slowly she turned her head to see that there was a person sitting beside her. Melinda opened her mouth and screamed as loud as she could before fumbling with her seatbelt trying to get out of the car.

-.-.

Sorry guys, life has been busy for me but I'm right on track with the story. Expect regular updates!

Comments are appreciated :)


	7. Chapter 7

"Wait wait wait!" a large warm hand clamped down gently on Melinda's wrist forcing her to look at the man sitting in **her** car in the passenger's seat.

"Who the fuck are you?!" Melinda struggled desperately to wrench her wrist from the man's firm grip. With her other hand she fumbled for the phone in her leather bag, she had to call the police.

"I'm not going to hurt you." the man said softly, his grip around her wrist slackened a bit but it wasn't enough for her to pull away, "Please I just want to talk to you about something." there was a sincerity in his voice that no criminal could have.

Melinda frowned and she stopped struggling for a moment, this man was definitely familiar. She looked at him more closely now, blue eyes, blonde hair, wide shoulders, he had that White American boy look to him and he had the overall effect of looking at a labrador retriever wagging its tail.

"Fuck." she muttered and sighed letting herself relax, "Captain America." she looked at the man sitting next to her. Didn't he have a better way of making an entrance?

Steve Rogers cautiously let go of her wrist as if expecting her to run but Melinda just sat there in resignation. The man visibly relaxed and then he turned to her, "Thank you." his voice was as diplomatic as ever.

"Why can't you people have a normal introduction." Melinda grumbled trying to calm herself down. The adrenaline rush from before was slowly starting to die down leaving her with clammy hands and a slight feeling of exhaustion.

"Normal introduction?" Steve looked at her questioningly, his perfect eyebrows were raised.

"You know." Melinda rubbed her wrist with a hand, "Like walking up to someone, introducing yourself and inviting them to a coffee shop to talk about important matters." her voice was accusing and she shot the hero a look, "Not getting into someone else's car and scaring them half to death after they just bought cat food in the middle of the day." She had enough of these kinds of entrances. First it was Bucky showing up in her apartment half dead, then it was Tony Stark in the emergency department, and now it was Captain America.

At least he had the sense to look a little ashamed and embarrassed, Melinda noted to herself and then she sighed, "So what is it that you needed to talk to me about." she glanced around the parking lot of PetSmart to see that no one was paying them any attention even though she had screamed earlier, "Are you sure you even have the right person?" she wondered aloud. She had nothing to do with Steve Rogers or the Avengers in that sense. Sure Tony had mentioned that people on the team knew about her but it wasn't like they had any business with her.

"I'm sure I have the right person." Steve gave her a little reassuring smile but that didn't mask the seriousness in his eyes. Obviously there was a situation going on right now but he didn't make an inclination to speak about it. Rather, he seemed to be studying her carefully and whatever it was that he finally saw in Melinda seemed to satisfy him and he began to speak.

"This is some compensation." Steve suddenly thrust a thick white envelope into her hand, "You know...for taking care of.." he swallowed and looked around the car, his eyes touched on the bag of cat food in the back seat, "...my cat." he finally looked into her eyes pleadingly.

Melinda had to bite the inside of her cheek hard to suppress the laugh threatening to erupt from the back of her throat. Whatever people said about Captain America, he definitely wasn't good at lying. He gave off the impression of being a straightforward justice man. No lies, no tricks. If she tried, she could kind of like him.

"Your cat, Mister Rogers?" Melinda had to ask after she got her composure back. She didn't have to open the envelope to know what it was and judging by the thickness of it there was a lot of compensation in there indeed.

"You know with black hair, three legs….quiet and moody." Steve went on his voice was steady but there was a hint of panic.

"Oh no problem at all." Melinda grinned at Captain America almost wickedly. He means Bucky, she realized internally. They were friends? She never kept up with the Avengers or superheroes for that matter, it had never interested her.

"Your cat is doing fine." Melinda gave the envelope back to Steve, "He was very hurt when I found him." she looked Steve in the eyes, "But he's healing up nicely right now."

Something inside of Steve seemed to loosen up and the man let out a quiet breath, "Thank you." he smiled at her and tried to push the envelope back into her hands.

Melinda shook her head and made a point of not taking it from him, "I don't need it." she replied stubbornly. That was a lie. But she was a little scared of taking that kind of money. Early on in life she experienced how easily money could get its hooks in a person and slowly reel them into a different world. Whether that world was good or bad she hadn't wanted to know.

Steve watched her for a moment and then silently withdrew the money and slid it back into the back pocket of his jeans. Whatever her reasons were, they were her own and it didn't feel right to ask or pry.

"Now back on topic." Steve cleared his throat, "I heard that Tony Stark visited you at the hospital." he looked at Melinda with a renewed sort of vigor.

Was this why he had dropped by to talk to her? Melinda blinked in surprise at him. Surprise surprise, she thought to herself dryly. Nothing is as it seems.

"Yes." she replied politely and returned his stare with her own. Where was this conversation going now? She tried to hide the confusion from her face but she knew she was failing miserably.

Steve looked at her for a moment, "I see." he swallowed and looked outside at a man struggling to get his oversized poodle into his pickup truck.

"Is there some kind of issue?" she asked a bit hesitantly. There was something in his expression that told her there was an issue. She just didn't know what kind or how bad.

But contrary to what she was thinking Steve just turned to her with a shrug of his shoulders, "It's not really a big issue." he began slowly, "Just that I would be careful if I were you." his hands were laced together but his thumbs were circling each other slowly, "Tony Stark...is a difficult person to read most of the time and a lot of the time, no one knows what he's planning until it's too late." he glanced at Melinda who was watching him with an unreadable expression on her face, but he continued with his thoughts, "Even if his plans are...very organized and meticulous with every detail specified, there's a bigger chance of it going wrong and blowing out of proportion than it going right with no….lasting consequences." Steve had to cringe at the last pair of words. It wasn't what he had in mind to say out loud, it didn't even come close to what he really wanted to say but for now it would do.

Melinda thought for a moment but all she could do right now was say, "I'll be careful." what Steve said had struck her as true. She had her own feelings about what Tony Stark wanted and what he was up to but it was still too early to make up any conjectures.

There was a moment of silence as the two people sat there mulling over their own thoughts.

"Well...it's about time for me to go." Steve Rogers broke the silence and turned to her with a slight smile, "Tell my cat I said hi." he reached over and opened the car door letting in a cool rush of air into the hot car, "And thanks for taking care of him."

Melinda had to smile at that, "It's no problem." she waved as he got out of the car and closed the door. She watched him walk over to a motorbike parked a few spaces away from her and strap a helmet before she finally looked away.

"Superheroes really are unique people." she muttered to herself as she turned the ignition on her car and switched the gear from park to drive. But it was also true that he had given her much to think about even if he had told her things she already knew. If anything, the unexpected meeting with Captain America had been able to solidify and confirm her feelings of suspicion towards Tony Stark.

What the hell had she gotten herself into? Melinda could feel a scowl forming on her face as anger began to bubble up inside of her. All she had ever wanted was to live a peaceful life and go through the daily motions of it. Sure, the idea of it might seem boring to others, but to her it was **the** life.

Melinda remembered when she first saw Bucky on her couch bleeding out

and be weary of her. He had been like a wounded wild animal now that she thought back on it. She braked at a stoplight and took a deep breath waiting for the light to turn green.

What had happened? That question continually pushed to the forefront of her thoughts despite knowing that she wouldn't be able to know….or was it that she knew she wouldn't be able to deal with that knowledge?

All she knew of Bucky was that even though his biography was in the Smithsonian and he was listed as missing in action, he was in fact, not 'MIA' but rather alive and breathing. She knew he was the Winter Soldier. Everyone..okay well not everyone knew that but there were circles within the superhero fandom that knew stuff like this. Her friend Danae had happened to know and had shared that information a long time ago before any of this happened. But that was besides the point right now.

The light ahead of her turned green and she pressed the gas pedal to go. The thing about the Winter Soldier, as said by her friend Danae, was the fact that the existence of the said soldier was similar to that of a ghost. Some people see it, believe in it and chase it. Others disregard it as a superstition and laugh it off. Of course this was a bad analogy and no one could really compare the existence of the Winter Soldier to that of a ghost.

The point was, that said Winter Soldier was in her apartment right now. Melinda had helped a dying person who turned out to be a wanted criminal. The sudden realization was just now starting to sink in.

"He's also technically about 100 years old." Melinda murmured and then let out a short laugh. She didn't know the details but this man had lived for a long time.

The Winter Soldier was a killer. So Bucky was a killer. Melinda thought back to the man who quietly sat on her couch and typed away the minutes on his laptop. The man who cooked and cleaned for her. The man who sat down with her at dinner time and talked with her like a friend.

A shiver ran down her spine. It was a strange feeling to realize the differences in her mind and yet she wasn't exactly afraid. Okay, maybe she was a little afraid but in her limited interactions with Bucky she knew he wouldn't hurt her.

"A little late to the realization party." Melinda grumbled to herself as she pulled into the parking lot of Costco. It wasn't as crowded as she had expected it to be and so she managed to pull into a parking space close to the entrance.

As Melinda wheeled her cart up and down the large aisles of food she suddenly thought back to Captain America. The man who hated injustice with a terrible passion. He was friends...at least it seemed to her, that he was friends with Bucky. There must be a reason why they remained so. She mused to herself as she grabbed a large carton of eggs and placed them in her cart.

Oh fuck it. Melinda took a deep breath and let it out. She was making her thoughts too complicated when it was actually quite simple. Bucky was a killer. He wouldn't kill her. He was friends with Captain America. He was...very troubled. Melinda thought back to the time she accidently caught him lost in his thoughts.

In times like those, he felt far away. As if he was living another life in another time and place and the body left behind was just a husk.

His life probably had not been so easy or good to him, Melinda thought to herself as she remembered the dark look in his eyes he got sometimes.

Shaking other thoughts from her mind, Melinda quickly shopped for the rest of the food she needed and by the time she went through checkout, got to her car, and arrived at her apartment it was already 4pm. Time certainly went by quickly when needless errands had to be done.

"I'm back." Melinda called as she lugged in her groceries and the large bag of cat food through the doorway with a huff. She hated to make another trip all the way back out to her car and so had managed to balance everything on top of each other in her arms before speed walking to her place.

"Wow." Bucky commented dryly as he watched her struggle through the doorway.

"You gonna sit there and watch or you wanna help a lady out?" Melinda balanced the carton of eggs in her right arm but managed to drop a large bag of lettuce.

Bucky just grinned but he got off the couch and easily took the load off her arms setting it all down on the countertop making sure nothing fell, "You got another super power or something?" Bucky joked as he watched her pick up the bag of lettuce, "I've never seen someone with so much food in their arms."

"Hilarious." Melinda rolled her eyes but she smiled at Bucky before locking her apartment door and setting her bag on the kitchen table.

All previous thoughts of Bucky that had been stewing in her mind all day vanished. There was no use overthinking everything at the moment. For now she would have to go with her gut feeling, and her gut feeling was telling her to give the man a chance to live like a regular person.


	8. Chapter 8

"So what do you do on your laptop all day?" Melinda asked as they sat down for dinner that night. Lily the cat was munching on the bowl of cat food that Melinda had bought that day.

Bucky shrugged and he stabbed a piece of broccoli, "Just some research." he replied vaguely and stuffed the vegetable into his mouth. He clearly didn't want her to press for anymore answers.

Melinda looked down at her plate of food and rearranged the mountain of salad on it with her fork, "Would it be dangerous if I knew too much?" her voice was quiet. She had never tried to ask more about him, it was an unspoken rule. Don't get too close or else. Don't get too friendly or else.

Bucky blinked at her and then he swallowed, "Something like that." was all he said.

They ate the rest of their dinner in silence. Melinda didn't know what had changed with her asking a simple question, but she was sure that something did.

"Captain America says hi." Melinda finally broke the silence as they stood side by side washing and drying dishes. Bucky standing on her right with a dry dish towel in one hand and Melinda on the left running soapy dishes under warm water.

"Steve?" Bucky glanced at her reflexively, he let himself take a plate that Melinda held out to him and carefully wiped it down, "You two met?" he asked casually as he set down the now dry plate in the dish rack.

"Yeah, we talked for a little bit after I bought cat food." Melinda replied as she picked up another soapy plate and held it under the faucet, "He just thanked me for taking care of you." she let out a little laugh when she remembered the panicked way Steve Rogers had talked about Bucky.

There was a moment of silence and then, "I see." Bucky's voice was quiet but there was a warmth in it that hadn't been there before.

Melinda took a quick glance at Bucky beside her and was a little surprised to see that the corners of his mouth had curved upward into a little smile, something she had never seen until now, "So you two are close?" she couldn't help but ask.

"I...uh...yeah I guess so." the words tumbled clumsily from his mouth as he reached for another plate to dry.

Melinda watched Bucky from the corner of her eye and then went back to washing the dishes. Something told her that there was more to it than he let on, there was weight behind his silence. As if all the things he wanted to say or needed to say were being held up and back by a kevlar net suspended in mid air.

Bucky cleared his throat, "So what else did you guys talk about?" he asked trying to change the subject quickly before the woman managed to think of another question that would throw him for a loop.

"Oh." This time it was Melinda's turn to be a little flustered, "Um." the frying pan she was rinsing off nearly dropped but she held on tightly, "We talked about Tony Stark." she cleared her throat.

"Tony Stark?" Bucky blinked in surprise at the unexpected response, he took the frying pan from her wet hand and proceeded to dry it off.

Melinda began to clean the sink from the leftover suds with water as she thought about the conversation with Steve Rogers, she didn't have anything to hide from Bucky or anyone else so what the hell, "Yeah." she shrugged her shoulders, "Tony Stark talked to me the day I went to the emergency department. He wanted me to join the Avengers...but not really if that makes sense." she gave the sink a last swipe and then shut the faucet off.

Bucky listened in silence as he carefully hung the towel on a rack to dry before putting the dishes back in the cupboards. The cat slippers that Melinda had bought for him as a joke were on his feet. She had gotten a little annoyed when his combat boots had scuffed the floor and made him promise to wear the slippers in her apartment. She hadn't expected him to actually follow through but...the man had proved himself to be a real gentleman about it.

"He says that the only purpose of me joining the Avengers is so that I'll have a chance to...research my...ability and potential." Melinda found herself telling Bucky everything as they walked around each other in the kitchen cleaning up and wiping down the countertops.

The night was feeling pretty cozy and homey to her and close to an ideal time spent at her apartment. Except….Melinda found herself stealing glimpses of the quiet man in her kitchen...except this feeling was thanks to Bucky. She realized that it was nice to have someone live with her, to share conversation, to be able to focus on another person and just share a period of their life together. It kind of felt like finding a piece of the puzzle that fit together perfectly.

"So he knows about your gift?" Bucky didn't seem to realize or care that Melinda had been sneaking glances of him periodically. He walked over to a cupboard and took out two large white mugs.

Melinda took out the kettle and filled it with water before putting it on the stove. She didn't know when it had started but they had fallen into the habit of drinking hot chocolate after their meals.

Bucky took out the packets of hot chocolate, the jar of marshmallows, and the glass bottle of rum. Normally one of them would make it from scratch but it seems that neither one felt like doing the extra work tonight.

"He's known for a while it seems." Melinda replied bitterly and she leaned against the countertop waiting for the water to boil. She would love nothing better than to scratch that smug smile off Stark's face. She sighed and then for the first time that night looked at Bucky directly, "Steve came by to tell me to be careful when dealing with Tony Stark." but inside she had to wonder exactly how she would manage that. She was a regular person. Melinda wasn't a hero with amazing superpowers, she wasn't super rich, or super smart. She didn't even know how to fight or hold a gun.

Melinda was a nurse. She had grown up in a normal household with divorced parents and a younger sibling. She wasn't like the Hulk, and she wasn't like Tony Stark. She certainly wasn't like the Winter Soldier or Captain America or even the Scarlet Witch. She wasn't born under some extraordinary circumstances, she wasn't from another world or universe, and she wasn't some high class government official or a secret agent.

So what could she possibly do to be 'careful' of Tony Stark? In all honesty, there wasn't much she could do.

"I say just stick with it for a while." Bucky said after a long moment. Both of them were now looking at the kettle that was beginning to emit some steam, "Wouldn't it be better to understand your gift first?" he asked and then looked at her.

His face was haggard and there was stubble growing on his chin but his eyes were bright and his expression was calm. His arms were crossed over his chest and whether it was conscious or not, his index finger was slowly tapping his prosthetic metal arm.

She wondered if that arm had powers or if it was special in some way. There were times when she thought she felt static come off of it.

"You have a point." Melinda reluctantly agreed, and he did have a point. But did she really want to discover the potential? Did she really want to go through the trouble of having her ability researched? And for what purpose?

Bucky looked at her for a moment, "Do you not like it?" he asked, his voice was quiet. He was perceptive as usual. Something that Melinda found unnerving at times.

The kettle shrieked as the water inside of it boiled. Melinda turned the stove off and waited until Bucky had finished pouring the cocoa powder into both mugs. While she poured in the hot water, Bucky measured out rum for each cup and poured them into the steaming mugs before topping the drinks off with a handful of soft white marshmallows.

"Can you tell?" Melinda finally replied as they finished cleaning up and then headed towards the table with drinks in hand, "I don't know why you keep calling it a gift, but it's not a present that I wanted."

They sat down in chairs on opposite sides of the table and stirred their drinks with silver spoons.

"Besides, I'm just a normal civilian." Melinda continued trying not to be bothered by Bucky's unwavering gaze on her.

Bucky just smiled then and took a sip of his hot chocolate..if you could call it that. He had probably put in more rum than she had poured in water, "We don't always choose our life." his voice was heavy with meaning and Melinda knew that there was a story behind it but she also knew he wouldn't tell her.

She sipped her drink and let the bittersweetness melt over her tongue. Of course, he was right once again and it irritated her. To him, Melinda's complaining or troubles probably weren't even worth talking about. He had problems of his own, even she knew that much despite him not saying anything.

Bucky sipped his drink once again almost grimacing at the sharpness of the rum. If anything, he would prefer to have Melinda's troubles over his but he had enough tact to keep that thought silent. She was going through a rough time in her own way and he could see that it was frustrating her.

The familiar stab of guilt quietly began to needle him again. Was it because he had chosen to come here and involve this woman in his life that this had happened to her? But the more pressing questions were, who had turned him into the Winter Soldier? Who had known about those words and about him? Would they come back to find him?

There was only so much he could do by himself with a laptop. Information was too limited and the government loved their secrets. If he wanted to know more he would have to go in himself or ask someone for favors and he wasn't keen on doing either at the moment.

He sighed into his drink, he couldn't even find out what he had done the most recent time he had turned into _him_. There was nothing in the news about it. Bucky resisted the urge to scowl, he hadn't realize what fine a line he was crossing right now.

And Steve had specifically visited Melinda to talk to her about Tony Stark. Was that man one of the reasons why Steve had told him to keep an eye on her? Once Bucky realized the dilemma he was in, he had to suck in a large lungful of air and expel it quietly. Should he leave before he was in too deep or stay a little longer? With Melinda unofficially joining the Avengers, things would only get more complicated.

It was terrifyingly easy to close his eyes and live here with this woman. It was too easy to turn the other way and pretend that nothing was happening. He was at ease here for once. Where he had been on the run constantly trying to figure out his past, staying here had somehow given him a peace of mind he had not thought was possible for him.

Spending time with someone was a curious thing. Their lives seemed to move around and make room for each other where there had not been any space before.

"I don't know your past and I don't know exactly what you've gone through but to me your ability is a gift." Bucky replied finally, "It might sound like an excuse to you because you saved my life, but you can do amazing things." he looked directly into her dark brown eyes.

Melinda blinked in surprise and she could feel her cheeks burn, she quickly lifted her lukewarm drink to her lips and sipped. He was sincere and no one who saw him at this moment could deny it.

Bucky then grinned at her and in that expression she could catch a brief glimpse of the man he had been back in those untroubled times.

A sudden warmth bloomed in her chest and she gently set her mug back down on the table, "Well, when you put it that way I can't really say anything back." she shrugged her shoulders sheepishly.

"That was the point." Bucky let out a quiet chuckle and he took another mouthful of his hot chocolate flavored rum. A knot that had been tightening in his stomach loosened as he came to a silent decision. He would leave tonight when Melinda was sleeping.

"Do you want another drink?" Melinda's voice suddenly snapped him out of his thoughts. When he looked towards where she was, he realized that she was holding up a tall bottle of unopened vodka.

Bucky stared for a moment and then, "Don't you have work tomorrow?" he asked. Melinda rarely drank strong liquor but there were times where it seemed that she wanted to get drunk. She wasn't the type of person to go out to a bar or club, but rather stay inside with a few close friends. A total..what were they called these days...an introvert? Something like that.

"I have the day off tomorrow. Someone wanted to switch days with me." Melinda shrugged and brought out two shot glasses before setting them on the table and cracking open the bottle of vodka. She looked at him meaningfully before she filled the second shot glass.

"Why not." Bucky sighed with a shrug, he could use a drink about now anyway.

"That's it." Melinda smiled and she quickly filled the glass up to the brim. They each grabbed a practically overflowing glass and brought them together with tiny _clink_ s before throwing the clear liquor back and swallowing. The liquid burned its way down her throat until it reached her stomach and blossomed into warmth.

The two people spent a majority of their time trading shots, sarcastic comments, and stories. The night was going by gradually in increments and before they knew it, it was 3 in the morning and they were both drunk. Well, Bucky not so much but there was a nice fuzziness to his head that dampened out any unpleasant thoughts and let him focus on the present.

Melinda was slumped forward in the chair next to him half drunk and half asleep. He didn't recall who it was that had moved over to sit next to the other person, only that at one point during the night Melinda had seemed a little far away.

Silence filled the small kitchen as Bucky looked around himself and then at Melinda next to him. Her head was buried in her arms and her hair fanned out behind her in dark waves.

He was going to be leaving in a few more hours, Bucky realized and immediately sobered up at the thought. His gaze stayed on Melinda's back for a few more moments before he dragged himself up from his chair.

"You awake?" his voice sounded too loud even to his own ears but Melinda didn't stir. He hesitantly put a hand to her shoulder and gently shook, "You think you can get up Melinda?" he tried to wake her up or even get a response but there was nothing, only slow even breathing.

Bucky silently looked down at Melinda, guess he'd have to carry her over to her bed. A small smile curved his lips upward but he quickly got rid of it, as he began to talk aloud, "I'm picking you up Melinda and I'll carry you over to the bed. You're gonna get sore sleeping like this." he gingerly began to lift her back up from the table and arrange her in a position where he could easily lift her up. One arm beneath her knees and the other supporting her back.

During those moments he desperately hoped that she wouldn't suddenly wake up or regain consciousness. It would be incredibly awkward to have her eyes open and realize what was happening. She might even get the wrong idea about him.

Thankfully though, he made it all the way to her bedroom without any incident. Melinda was strangely light in his arms and he had no problem carrying her to the far end of the apartment where her room was.

All the while he carried her, he couldn't help but notice the faint smell of her perfume and the warmth her body exuded. A strange feeling came over him as he quietly pushed the door to her room open with a slippered foot. Maybe it was because he had never quite imagined himself doing something like or maybe it was because of Melinda. He didn't know what it was, only that he wished to stay a little longer and talk with Melinda. He wanted to stay in the routine they had wordlessly established throughout their days together.

Although it was dark in her room, he could still see relatively well inside of it. It was his first time seeing her room clearly (discounting the time he had grabbed a shirt for Melinda before her trip to the hospital: he hadn't even paid attention to anything) and it was as he had imagined it to be. It was a simple and uncluttered place with nothing but a bed, small night table, and a minimalistic wardrobe for extra clothing that didn't go in her closet. She had a medium sized bookshelf practically overflowing with books at the far wall of her room placed next to a large window and there was a rather large well cared for potted aloe vera in the corner opposite of the bookshelf.

Bucky stopped in front of her unmade bed and slowly lowered her onto the bed taking care not to jostle her too much. He was just about to pull away his arms from underneath her and step away when all of a sudden Melinda's arms shot out and wound themselves around his neck and hugged her to him pulling him in closer.

He froze for a few moments uncertain of what to do. Then all of a sudden feeling slightly alarmed, he tried to lean away from her reflexively but instead of breaking her hold on him, she ended up being pulled along with him as her arms tightened in response. As a result, Melinda was now hanging off the bed, the only thing keeping her from falling to the floor completely was her hold on Bucky and the fact that the lower half of her body was still on the bed. Hastily, before Melinda's hold on him broke and she fell, Bucky repositioned himself and Melinda so that her head was back on her pillow and she was no longer in danger of falling off. But that meant that his face was now buried into the crook of her neck and he was practically halfway on top of her.

A different sort of panic began to swell up inside of Bucky once he realized the position he was in. He thought things like this only happened in stories or movies. What was he supposed to do in this situation? He reached back with his arms and gently tried to unwind and break her hold on him but the moment her arms were about to naturally fall back to her sides, Melinda shifted in her sleep and her arms wound themselves back around his neck.

For some reason a cold sweat began on his forehead and back as he tried once more to somehow break Melinda's hold on him but failing. This was a compromising position and situation. If Melinda woke up during any of this, Bucky wasn't sure how she would react and what she would think.

For more than a few minutes, Bucky stood there hunched over Melinda debating on what to do while trying to keep what space he could between his face and her shoulder but failing that as well. He could smell the shampoo that they both used and her hair was soft against his face. At that, for some reason or other, he couldn't help but realize his loneliness and Bucky was half tempted to just take the spot beside Melinda and fall asleep together with her. But no, he had things to do, he pushed aside those thoughts and got to thinking. He couldn't just break her hold on him like he normally would, if he used too much force then he could hurt her. If he didn't use enough force, then she would just keep him in her arms like before.

Bucky let out a little sigh not realizing that his breath brushed Melinda's ear causing her to stir before settling back down again in her deep sleep. Get it together Barnes, he told himself silently, you're a soldier, an elite legendary assassin unwillingly trained by HYDRA, you've gone through worse than this. He took a deep breath and then once again reached back with his arms. Gently, painstakingly slowly he began to unwind and remove Melinda's arms from around him. After a few failed attempts and a back cramp from staying hunched over too long, Bucky finally straightened up and wiped away the sweat that had beaded the sides of his face and forehead.

He managed to peel her arms from around him but now he had a new problem. Bucky looked at the hand tightly gripping his metal arm and let out another sigh. Was it just her that had this kind of habit or were all 20th century women like this? He couldn't help but stare at Melinda for a few moments, her face was smooth of any emotion and she was blissfully unaware of what Bucky was going through.

A smile worked its way up to his mouth as he watched her sleep peacefully. He couldn't feel her grip on his arm or the warmth of her touch but he was aware that she was grasping it. Bucky looked at the clock and realized only half an hour had passed by while he had struggled to free himself of Melinda's embrace. It had seemed much longer than that.

I guess I'll stay a little longer, Bucky thought to himself as he sat himself on the floor next to the bed. He was careful not to move his left arm too much and once he settled himself on the floor, Bucky leaned back against the wall and let his left arm rest next to Melinda on the bed.

Melinda ground her teeth and instinctively rolled over onto her side facing Bucky and hugged his arm, frowning when he wouldn't let her pull it closer to herself. Watching all of this, Bucky let out a quiet laugh but despite all of Melinda's pulling, he didn't budge.

That's dangerous, he thought to himself and he hesitantly reached over with his other hand and smoothed away the hair that gotten into her face. Melinda stopped struggling to pull Bucky's arm closer to her and instead snuggled closer to it before settling down. She didn't seem to realize that the arm she was holding onto was hard or cold, neither did she seem to realize that it wasn't made of flesh. Was it because she was too drunk? Or maybe she didn't care because in her dreams it was real and it belonged to someone else.

Bucky gently stroked the side of Melinda's face with his right hand as he watched her sleep. He didn't know when or how, but somewhere along the time they had spent together he had begun to care for her. Maybe it was when she stared at his shoulders for a second too long that one morning, Bucky grinned as he thought back to it but then shook his head. No, it wasn't then. Maybe it was when he had first opened his eyes after being healed and saw an unconscious bloody woman lying on the floor next to him. But wasn't that a bit twisted? His mind suddenly flicked to one of the moments they were both at the table eating breakfast on one of her off days. Both of them half awake, sipping hot coffee and laughing at each others' bed hair. Sunlight streaming in through the open windows, plates of fried eggs, hashbrowns, toast, and a bowl of fresh fruit in between them.

Still thinking of those small peaceful moments, he traced the side of her face with gentle fingers, following her high cheek bone and trailing down her jawline to her chin and then up to her bottom lip. He stared for a moment and then abruptly pulled his hand away, taking a deep breath as he did so. This was not right. Bucky turned his gaze back to Melinda who kept on sleeping, the pace of her breathing still deep and even, her face smooth of emotions and still snuggled up to his prosthetic arm.

This would be the last time he would see her, Bucky let his eyes memorize every detail of Melinda's face. The two small black dots next to the right side of her mouth, her black eyelashes and almond shaped eyes, her slightly curved nose, and her small pink mouth. At first she had never been someone pegged for his 'type'. But...I guess things change all the time, Bucky gently pried his left arm from Melinda and silently stood up. It had been surprisingly easy to reclaim his body from her this time.

He checked the clock and noticed that two hours had gone by with him just sitting next to Melinda. The hours went by too quickly. It was time to leave now. Bucky looked back down at Melinda who was sleeping soundly on her bed.

A few moments passed with him gazing at her and then on impulse, Bucky bent down and brushed his lips against her cheek before straightening and leaving the room with silent footsteps. The whole thing happened so quickly that had someone been watching the scene it would have been missed with the blink of an eye.

Bucky quietly closed the door behind him and walked to the couch, his mind was already calculating his next moves. Within minutes he packed his sparse belongings and after making sure everything was safely tucked away in his backpack and the area was clean, he ripped out a blank sheet of paper from his notebook and took a pen out.

After penning his short note, Bucky placed it on the kitchen table and after a final look around the apartment and a glance at the closed door to Melinda's room, Bucky turned and exited the apartment out into the darkness with silent footsteps.

The apartment was quiet and dark now, almost as if the previous events filled with conversation and laughter had never happened. By the time early morning arrived, and the pale light of the rising sun began to spill in through the window in Melinda's room, Bucky was far gone.

In her room, Melinda slept soundly, unaware that life was passing her by at an alarming rate and changing drastically as it went.

-.-.-.

Comments are very appreciated :)


	9. Chapter 9

When Melinda finally woke up, it was only 10 in the morning. She lay there for a few moments before she registered that she was lying in her bed instead of being slumped over her kitchen table.

Bucky must have carried her back to her room when she didn't wake up. Melinda felt herself smile a little at the thought and after a while decided to drag herself out of bed. If she was lucky, Bucky was still asleep and she could surprise him with a full breakfast as thanks.

The room tilted and spun precariously as Melinda sat up in bed, her mouth and throat were dry, a dull pounding was starting at her temples and moving to the center of her head, and she felt bloated. To be more accurate, she felt as if every cell in her body was saturated with alcohol and it felt like it was oozing from every pore on her skin. She had definitely had too much last night and she wasn't proud of the fact. Melinda felt gross. It was one of the reasons she didn't drink too much.

As she suppressed a groan, she swung her legs over to the edge of the bed and let her feet touch the floor but didn't stand up. A pitcher of water and a cup that hadn't been in her room before caught her eyes as she looked around. It was weird but she felt a little touched at the sight. It seemed that Bucky had cared or rather, had been thoughtful enough to prepare a much needed pitcher of water for her.

Feeling grateful, Melinda reached over, poured herself a glass of water and drank from the cup thirstily. When the pitcher was more than halfway empty, she started to feel a little rejuvenated and set her cup back down on the small night table. Now her only problem was the pounding headache. Melinda sighed and massaged the back of her neck and rubbed her temples before slowly getting up.

The apartment was quiet as she trudged her way out of her room and into the short hallway. Melinda made a quick stop in the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face before she started to make breakfast. By the sound of things, she guessed that Bucky was still asleep. Absentmindedly, Melinda squeezed some toothpaste onto her toothbrush and stuck it into her mouth. As she brushed her teeth, she grabbed her cup and stuck it under the faucet and filled it up halfway with water before she realized that something seemed to be missing. Her eyes scanned the countertop...actually it seemed like more than some _thing_ was missing and rather some _things_ were missing. She couldn't exactly identify what was missing, she just knew that some things were. An unsettling feeling formed in her gut and she brushed her teeth and washed her face with a speed she didn't know she possessed, especially in her hungover state.

After toweling her face dry and making sure she was at least presentable, she left the bathroom feeling apprehensive. She looked down at herself and realized that she was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday. Wrinkled denim shirt and spotless white pants. She sighed and then turned around to trudge back to her room and change into something more comfortable and practical.

She dug through her drawers and her closet before settling on a pair of comfortable grey sweatpants and a white v-neck shirt. When that was done she walked out of her room as quietly and quickly as possible. She didn't want to wake Bucky up, not after the long night they'd had.

Instead of the empty mugs and shot glasses she expected to see on her kitchen table, it was wiped clean except for a sheet of paper.

Melinda stared at it for a moment but instead of walking over to see what was written on it, she turned and looked at the sofa where Bucky was supposed to be. There was no one. It was empty. The blankets were neatly folded up and stacked on top of the pillow he used to sleep on.

The apartment suddenly seemed deathly quiet to Melinda. She was alone. She walked back to the bathroom and looked at the countertop. So that's what had bothered her. All of his things were gone.

Silently she walked back out towards the kitchen table and picked up the sheet of paper. His handwriting was surprisingly neat. His letters were long and effortlessly elegant reminding Melinda vaguely of cursive writing.

 _Your apartment key is under the rug outside. What you've done...you don't know how much it means to me. Thank you. Be careful of suspicious people, I don't know what they'd do to try and find out anything about me. But if you're in trouble Steve will keep an eye out for you. Get rid of this note after you've read it. Again, thank you and be careful._

 _B_

Melinda silently read the note over twice before she crumpled it in her hand and sighed. There was no hint of him returning at all. He was just gone now. She felt an emptiness in her chest as the reality of the situation sank in slowly. It's not like she could run after him or contact him somehow. Bucky was...Melinda swallowed and took a deep breath. She walked into her kitchen and dug around in the drawers until she found a lighter. Her morning plans were useless now, Melinda stood over the kitchen sink and lit the crumpled note on fire. The paper ball slowly turned black and tightened before breaking off into ash and landing silently in the sink.

She dropped the note into the sink where a bright orange cinder blinked brightly against the black soot before it disappeared. It was just a small dusting of ashes in her sink now. Just as how quickly the note had been burned up by the fire, that was how quickly their time together ended. At least that's what it seemed like to Melinda. She turned the faucet on and let it run for a few minutes letting the ashes wash down the drain with the water. When all traces were gone, she shut the water off.

Breakfast, she thought to herself as she tried to snap herself out of her daze. But now she wasn't hungry. Sighing, Melinda quietly made her way back to the bedroom. She felt miserable now. Her headache only got worse, it felt as if her stomach had 5 water balloons inside of it, and now she wasn't sure what she was feeling since finding out about Bucky's departure.

As she lay back down in her bed to sleep off her hangover headache, a little blip sounded from her cellphone. Melinda eyed it but didn't move to touch it. She wasn't really in the mood to talk to someone.

From the beginning she knew that he would both knew. But maybe he was the only one that really understood what that meant. She couldn't help but feel like she had been used and thrown away because of convenience. But, Bucky wouldn't do something like that...Melinda frowned, he wouldn't do something like that? Since when did she know Bucky enough to come to this conclusion?

She let out a sigh and turned onto her side, just forget about it. It's all in the past and it was just one stranger. That's it. Melinda closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep. It was nothing personal, Bucky left because he had to.

Melinda didn't know how long she lay there repeating the same words inside her head but before she knew it, she had drifted off to sleep trying to convince herself of them.

In her dreams, Melinda could hear people talking around her but she didn't know what they were saying, it was all a loud bubble of conversation. She curled into a ball and tried to block out the noise by covering her head with a pillow but it was pointless. Heaving a loud irritated sigh, she pushed her pillow aside and cracked open an eye.

"You've got to be kidding me." she croaked and she blinked again to make sure she wasn't seeing things...or rather people.

"Not kidding at all dear." The smiling face of Tony Stark himself was staring at her. He had been walking around her room and perusing through her overcrowded bookcase when she had woken up.

"What are you doing here?" Melinda sat up gingerly and squinted at him and an unknown man standing in her doorway wearing a creaseless black suit, "Can't you knock or send an email or call before barging into someone else's home?" she complained as she tied up her hair. At least her headache was gone. And for some reason she wasn't the least bit surprised that this was happening.

Tony Stark closed the book he had been flipping through with a crisp _snap_ and plugged it back into its spot on the bookcase before walking over to her. His expensive suit and the way he carried himself didn't fit at all with Melinda's apartment room. He was definitely too big of a person to match a place like this.

"I'm guessing you didn't get the email I sent you." Tony stopped at the foot of her bed and looked at Melinda's blinking phone.

Email? Melinda felt her brow furrow up before she reached over and snatched her phone up and pressed the home button. A string of notifications popped up and she hastily scrolled through all of them. They were all from Tony Stark and she had about 50 of them. He had sent her an email and when she hadn't answered that, he had sent her texts, and when those went unreplied, he had called her.

"Yeah. JARVIS was really annoyed with me." Tony said flippantly not bothering to explain who or what this JARVIS was to her.

She ignored what he was saying and unlocked her phone to read the first email he had sent her.

 _Hello Miss Melinda. I am JARVIS, an artificial intelligence designed by Mister Tony Stark. I am sending you this e-mail per Mister Stark's request to notify you that he requests for you to come over as today is your day off. Please meet us at this address by 1 o'clock PM this afternoon. We apologize that this was so short notice. Have a good day._

Below that there was an address and picture for good measure. Melinda looked at Tony Stark in disbelief, "I thought you said that you'd give me a couple of days notice." she set her phone down next to her on the bed. The tone of the email rubbed her the wrong way for some reason. Maybe because it was too cool or maybe it was because an artificial intelligence had sent it to her.

The man just shrugged, "Well, you know how schedules work out sometimes." He didn't move, "It was a sudden thing." he explained patiently, "We were going to contact you today for your next day off but it turns out that you switched days with someone." he looked over at the suited man and waved him out the door, "and what a happy surprise." he then turned to look at Melinda once more, "The day that I have absolutely no plans is today." he looked out the window and then back at her, "But you know, half of it is already gone."

Melinda sighed and despite herself she felt a little embarrassed, "Let me just go get changed and brush my teeth." she muttered, "It'll only take me like 10 minutes." she threw her blankets aside and got up from her bed.

"Great, I'll be out there in the living room." Tony brightened up and he walked out of her room first before she could get another word in.

She watched him leave her room and then sighed as she dug through her closet and drawers for something more practical to wear other than her sweats and shirt. After a few panicked minutes of deliberating, she settled on a pair of dark blue jeans and another white t-shirt.

To be honest, she was feeling a little nervous. Who wouldn't right? This was the first time they were going to be doing research or whatever to discover more about her ability. So of course she had questions...how would they go about doing that? What would they be doing? Would she be some kind of science experiment?

As soon as she finished dressing herself, Melinda walked out of her bedroom and made her way into the bathroom trying to ignore the tinkering sounds she heard coming from her kitchen. Whatever the billionaire and his lackey were doing in her kitchen, she didn't really want to know. She just hoped they wouldn't make a complete mess.

The moment she shut her bathroom door was also the moment she heard a vague voice shout out, "Incoming!" before a metal clad figure crashed in through the mirror of her bathroom and landed against the opposite wall and eventually breaking through that as well. A shower of dust, plaster, and glass fragments rained down over her. Melinda stood there shocked and she stared at the hole in her bathroom wall where she could clearly see her kitchen and then at Iron Man who was already up and brushing off pieces of her home off his shoulders.

"Good thing you didn't move." he spoke to her casually, his voice sounded muffled through his mask, "Now I suggest that you stay in your room until this is all over." he didn't even look at her as he stepped through the man sized hole in the wall into her kitchen. His suit was powering up and something about his tone of voice told her that nothing would be spared in the fight. Not even the apartment she slaved over at work to pay rent.

Melinda stood there for a few seconds still in shock. What was happening right now? She thought she had been on a fairly good streak of not being completely surprised but this one really topped it all. Was Iron Man fighting someone? Had he been attacked in **her** apartment?

But she didn't have to keep wondering. Clanging, clashing, and the sound of breaking wood and plaster told her everything she needed to know. If she stared out the hole in her wall she could _see_ parts of the fighting.

"Seriously?" Melinda muttered under her breath as she prepared herself to step out of the bathroom and run into her room. Her goal was to be as unnoticeable as possible. There was a loud crash and Melinda flinched, she heard a mechanical _clunk_ from somewhere and she hoped that it wasn't her fridge.

Taking a few deep breaths, she steeled herself and put her hand on the doorknob. A loud roar made her freeze but ultimately Melinda turned it and ran to her room while vaguely hearing Tony Stark's sarcastic commentary.

She shut the door to her room and locked it even though she knew it wouldn't do any good to whoever was out there. Her heart was beating fast and her hands were clammy and shaky. Quickly she made her way to the bed and sat down on it although every muscle in her body was tense. This was why she didn't like the whole hero vs villain thing and this was exactly why she didn't want to be involved in anything to do with them.

Outside, she could hear the continued noises of things breaking, of something being fired, and of metal clanking. Now the real questions began to circle around Melinda's head as she tensely waited for the whole thing to be over. Who was it and why were they here? Who was the target? And then Melinda had to roll her eyes at the last question. Of course the target was Iron Man. She was just a nobody….or maybe it was someone who had been after Bucky.

The more she thought about it the more complicated her thoughts became. There were way too many things that she didn't know and she didn't want to know. Couldn't she just peacefully distance herself from this whole situation?

A loud crack resounded throughout her apartment room and then there was complete and utter silence.

Melinda tensed up, it sounded like it was over but who had won? If it wasn't Iron Man then what would she do? At the thought, her heart began to beat faster and she strained her ears to listen for any sort of noise to indicate anything about the situation. Nothing. Complete and total silence.

Should she get up and leave her room? Minutes passed as she deliberated with herself on what to do. Okay, I'll just go peek out the door first, Melinda finally decided and she stood up from the bed and quietly walked over to the door. First, she put her ear to the door but when she couldn't hear anything she pulled away and with shaking fingers she unlocked it. Seriously….what the hell kind of situation was this...and in her own home at that?

 _Crunch_

Melinda froze.

 _Crunch crunch crunch_

The sound of someone stepping on glass startled Melinda and she immediately took a step backwards from the door. For the first time in her life, Melinda hoped and prayed that it was Iron Man on the other side of the door.

-.-.-.-

comments are appreciated :)


	10. Chapter 10

The door opened slowly and like some cheesy horror movie it creaked as it did so. Out of the corners of her eyes she saw her cat Lily slink back underneath the bed where she had been all along.  
For a moment, when the door opened and completely revealed the person standing behind it, some part of Melinda did see the Iron Man in his suit looking down at her through the expressionless mechanical mask. But that was her own hopes and immediately the visual hallucination faded and she was faced with someone she had never seen before in her life.

The man was huge and filled up her entire doorway.

"Who are you?" Melinda swallowed and stared up at the man who was looking down at her with something like contempt. Except that she couldn't really tell.

He was wearing a tight fitting black suit with not even a speck of dust visible on it despite what he had done, "I'm here to escort you." his voice was deep and his sunglasses were so dark that she couldn't see anything behind the lenses.

Escort me? Melinda blinked in surprise, "So you weren't after Iron Man?" She didn't dare say Bucky's name. Something told her not to say that name so lightly in front of other people.

The man grinned showing straight white even teeth, "No, he was just in the way." there was a coolness to his voice that Melinda didn't like. He sounded detached and almost mechanical and for a second she wondered if he was some robot. But no, he was a living breathing human being, she could feel it.

Melinda quickly thought of what she should do but she was at a loss. Iron Man was gone or killed or whatever. There was no one to help her and for now, it seemed as if this man wasn't here to hurt her...at least, not yet. But honestly, it wasn't like she had another choice.

"Um…" she hesitantly looked at the man who was still staring down at her, "Can I bring my cat?"

It took about half an hour and a packet of treats to finally convince Lily to come out from under the bed. Feeling the growing impatience of the man who silently tailed Melinda wherever she went, Lily was quickly put into her carrier.

Before leaving, the man told her to bring whatever she wanted to since they wouldn't be returning for a while. As much as Melinda wanted to ask exactly what that meant, she couldn't bring herself to ask. She had a feeling that this particular question was somewhat forbidden.

So as quickly as she could, she grabbed one of her black backpacks and stuffed it with some underwear, bras, toiletry items, her phone and phone charger, a small book, important documents, and some other miscellaneous things. She was about to pack her laptop but was stopped by a thick calloused hand, when she looked up, the man shook his head at her. Sighing, she left the laptop untouched on her desk and zipped up her backpack. So her cellphone was allowed but not her laptop. Why?

"All done." she announced and turned to face the man who had been carefully watching her fa few feet away from her. The sun was now going down and the sky was a brilliant orange red.

"Follow me." was all he said and he picked up the cat carrier with one hand and gestured for her to follow him with the other. It did seem like he had some manners at least.

Melinda followed him out of her bedroom out into the short hall where she could already see the beginnings of the chaos her apartment was in. She had almost forgotten about the shape it was in, it seemed like it had happened a long time ago for some reason.

Her apartment was totally devastated. The far wall where her couch had been was completely gone as if it had been ripped away, and now the view of the city had never been closer. Chairs were smashed, her table was nothing but pieces of wood, her fridge was dented and the door had been ripped off, every single wall that was miraculously still standing had holes as big as her...rather, it was safer to say that there were more holes than wall. It looked like a demolition team had begun to wreck her home only to be called away for lunch. There was no trace of Iron Man. Nothing. Not even a metal scrap or chip of paint. What had happened to him?

A pipeline in her sink seemed to have burst and suddenly a spout of water began to bubble up from the broken faucet. She sighed as she looked around, how was she going to deal with all of this? Paying off the damages with her salary in one lifetime wasn't possible. The man cleared his throat and Melinda snapped out of her brooding, she didn't realize that she had stopped walking.

Silently the man gestured for her to keep walking to the door and with another sigh, Melinda quietly followed the man. At least the door was still intact, Melinda thought to herself a little bitterly.

"You won't have to worry about any of the damages to your apartment." the man said after they stepped outside. The door creaked shut behind them and they continued to walk down the stairs towards the parking garage, "Everything will be taken care of."

Melinda blinked but didn't say anything in response, she suddenly felt as if she had been yanked into some other reality. As of this moment, she had no idea what was happening and why. The way things progressed was unfamiliar to her, this was almost like some movie. And yet, there was no choice but to go along with the flow of things.

They finally reached the bottom stairs where Melinda could hear the shrill piercing sounds of sirens and the noise of people gathered close by. It was most likely caused by whatever happened in Melinda's apartment. Media would speculate, there would be investigations…

"We'll also be taking care of the media and the police." the man continued to speak as if he knew what she was thinking. He led the way to the part of the parking garage where a large cement pillar obscured a black parked car with tinted windows.  
He opened the back door for her and stood there looking at Melinda until she realized that he was waiting for her to get in. She peered inside before awkwardly clambering into the backseat. The car was empty and smelled vaguely of some kind of expensive cloying cologne. After she got settled into the leather seats, he gently placed the cat carrier next to her and shut the door.

"For starters, you can just call me Mister." the man said once he got into the driver's seat and clicked in his seat belt, "Everyone calls me that so it's like my name." he turned the key in the ignition and the engine of the car purred to life.

Mister was looking into the rearview mirror and even though Melinda couldn't see his eyes behind the dark sunglasses he wore she could definitely feel him look at her.

Before she could reply to that he continued to speak as he reversed the car and pulled out of the lot, "Any other questions you have will be answered when we get there."

There?

Melinda opened her mouth to ask where, when she caught the look on his face and decided to close her mouth instead. It seems that just as Mister had said, now was not the time for questions.

No one noticed the black car pull out of the parking garage and head out into the busy intersection. The sun was setting and despite the fiery orange glow of the rays outside, the inside of the car was still dark as if they were still inside the garage. To be honest, she couldn't really even see the outside except for a few shapes passing by.

The car ride was silent, but Mister didn't even move to turn the radio on or make any attempt at conversation. Melinda checked on Lily and then she settled herself against the leather seats. Out of awkwardness, she tried to looked at the passing scenery outside the windows but again realized that she couldn't see anything. Everything felt surreal to her, like she was in another person's body while she was inside just watching them live out their life. Was this all real? It had to be.

It all just seemed to be moving too fast for her. Not too long ago she had healed Bucky and this morning she had just realized that he had left. It was also the same day where Tony Stark came looking for her and had been 'taken care of' and where Mister was taking her to some mysterious place.

Was this usually how fast life moved along?

She thought about texting her friends or family but decided not to. What if something happened to them because of her? Melinda couldn't be too careful right now, not after everything that had happened so far.

Melinda didn't know how much time passed in the car and she didn't feel like checking either. There was no clock in the car. In fact there wasn't anything to distinguish the maker or the year. Everything was generic but despite that, even she could tell that the car was expensive and everything was high quality, from the leather seats to even the door handles and carpet.

And then there was Mister. Melinda's eyes briefly flashed to the figure sitting in front of her in the driver's seat. Was he the one who fought with Tony Stark and the suited lackey? Or had it been someone else?

Just when her eyelids were starting to grow heavy the car stopped and Mister parked the car someplace and cut the engine. Suddenly awake, Melinda blinked and sat up in the seat.

Mister stepped outside and opened the door for Melinda gesturing for her to get out, "I'll get your stuff." he adjusted his sunglasses, "For now just follow me, there's someone you have to meet."

Melinda carefully stepped out of the car and looked around herself. She had no idea where she was, only that she was in a remote part of the mountains away from the city. Nighttime had fallen and despite the bright lighting in the immediate area she still couldn't see that well around her. The car was parked outside on a smooth paved driveway about a mile long from the distant gates she saw that were lit up by blue lights. The building ahead of her was huge and not just some big mansion huge, the sheer size of it made Melinda question of it really was a house that someone lived in or if it was some kind of fancy looking corporate building. It was fashioned like one of those black blocky modern houses overlooking some kind of nature scene. Not exactly Melinda's taste but who was she to say anything? At least this person could afford it.

"This way." Mister shut the car door when Melinda was outside and began to walk towards what she assumed to be the front door. As Mister approached the double doors, they opened automatically revealing a plain interior. Contrary to what she believed would be inside, there was almost nothing. It was a very open space with high ceilings and large windows and minimal furniture.

The lighting was dim inside but she could see well and had no problem keeping up with Mister as he led her to the right and down a long hallway to a door at the end. Their footsteps made little noise as they walked despite the hardwood flooring and Melinda could smell the faint but distinct scent of the heavy cologne that she had smelled inside the car.

Mister wordlessly stopped in front of the door and then turned to face her, "I'll be here when you're done inside. Afterwards I'll take you to your room." he then stepped aside and gestured for her to go inside.

Melinda stared at Mister and then at the door in front of her. Lately it seemed that her future was being decided by doors...or rather the people behind the doors. She sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time today and proceeded to put her hand on the polished brass door handle in the shape of a lion's head. Classy.

Nervously she turned the handle, her palms were sweaty and her heart was beating faster than it ever had. Who could possibly want her more than Iron Man and why?

-.-.-.-.

Comments are appreciated :)

And a big thank you to those who have left comments so far :)


	11. Chapter 11

The door silently swung open to reveal a grand study overflowing with books and documents. The fireplace at the far end of the room was brightly lit casting long shadows across the walls. Thick curtains were drawn across the windows obscuring the outside world and the faint scent of the cloying cologne she had smelled throughout the day was the heaviest in the room. Melinda thought that if she could see smells, then she'd probably see a thick cloud of the cologne hanging around in the room.

Directly in front of her was a wide dark wooden desk with a neat stack of papers on the right and a tray of two crystal glasses and a decanter on the left. Despite the scholarly chaos in the room, the desk was neat and almost minimalistic. There was no one sitting in the seat behind the desk and for a few seconds she wondered what to do. The door clicked shut behind her leaving her alone in the study.

"Have a seat." a voice startled her and she turned her head in the direction of the noise. It was a deep, smooth, and slightly accented voice that seemed to come from the farthest corner of the room obscured with shadows.

Melinda squinted and peered closely at the spot, was there a person sitting there?

"A seat Melinda." the voice spoke again and this time the shadows seemed to move and grow larger until a tall slim man stepped out into the light.

Melinda blinked in surprise and straightened up, she took a step back and then realizing what the man had said, looked for a seat and sat in it when she found one. The chair she sat in was the one directly in front of the desk and to be honest, it was one of the most comfortable chairs she had ever sat in. She didn't know why, but she always had some sort of bias against people who chose bad chairs. In her book, someone who could choose a nice looking and comfortable chair was someone that had taste and intelligence.

The man took his seat in front of Melinda behind the desk where they could both get a better look at each other.

He was only a few years older than she was, Melinda realized with a jolt. His face was youthful and the typical white pretty boy. Delicate, prominent features, white marble skin, small pink lips, eyes as blue as the sky, and defined jawline. His hair was almost white it was so light and it was neatly slicked back with gel. Not a single strand out of place. He was dressed in a simple dark grey suit and a black turtleneck that only served to make his skin that much lighter. To Melinda he almost seemed to be a specter sitting in front of her.

As Melinda carefully looked at him, the man also studied her with the same kind of curiosity. It was a few minutes before the silence was broken with the clearing of his throat.

"I trust that the car ride here was comfortable?" the man finally spoke again as he continued to look at her. He leaned to one side of the chair and propped his head up with a hand.

What kind of accent was this? Melinda silently wondered, "It was fine." she managed to speak aloud. She returned the man's look with one of her own. It wasn't German was it? Polish? It wasn't French, that much was certain.

He nodded slightly as if satisfied with her answer, "Good." he muttered under his breath.

"So um...why me?" the question that had been trekking back and forth in her mind burst out awkwardly from her lips, "And how do you know my name?"

The man looked at her for a moment, and in the depths of his eyes she saw something that made her shiver, "First." he straightened up and reached over for the tray with the glasses and decanter, "A drink."

She watched silently as he poured them each a half measure of whatever the amber liquid was. Each movement he made was fluid and effortlessly graceful, like he had trained in some etiquette school when he had been younger. With each passing moment, Melinda was feeling more and more bewildered. What was this situation right now?

He placed the crystal stopper back into the decanter and slid over a glass to Melinda. She carefully picked up the cool heavy glass very aware of his gaze on her.

"To good health." he raised his glass and sipped from it quietly gesturing for Melinda to drink from hers as well.

She looked into the clear crystal cup and then took a sip from it. The liquid was strong and slightly sweet and musky. Melinda had never tasted anything like it, but then again she wasn't much of a brandy/cognac/whiskey kind of person, whatever this was.

"My name is Albrecht." the man spoke quietly and he swirled the drink around in his glass before taking another sip, "And you are here because you are valuable."

Melinda blinked, "Valuable?" she repeated dumbly. What did that even mean? A foreboding feeling began to gnaw at the back of her mind. The way he said it so matter of factly rubbed her the wrong way and reminded her of people who saw everything as objects to be used obtained, or thrown away and erased.

Albrecht silently stared at her and tapped a finger on the wooden table for a few moments, "I see that they have not decided to tell you afterall." he murmured quietly and sighed, "Well, no matter." he shrugged.

He then pulled open the drawer of his desk and took out a worn manila file thick with papers and deliberately placed it in front of Melinda, "After you are escorted to your room, look at them." he then shut the drawer and took another sip of his drink, "Most of your questions should be answered after that." he continued, "As for why you are here…" he tilted his head looking for the right word, "I will just say that it is to 'work' for me."

"Wait, but I already have a job." Melinda looked at the man in disbelief, "You can't just-" she opened her mouth in panic but was cut off by a sharp look from Albrecht.

"Everything will be taken care of." he talked softly but firmly, "And you will only be working for me for a few months. The damages to your apartment and rent, taking a few months off from your work, the media, the police, the Avengers, they will all be taken care of." he waved a pale hand in the air as if waving away some dust. This person said it so easily but Melinda had to wonder if the issues could be solved so simply.

"The Avengers?" Melinda asked before she could stop herself and cringed inwardly when Albrecht shot her a displeased look. He was the very picture of ice prince. Were the Avengers a problem?

"Yes." Albrecht nodded gravely and he swirled the contents of his crystal glass around before taking another sip of it, "They have become a nuisance as of recently." his accent rolled the r's heavily.

Well, at least I know he isn't a good guy then, Melinda thought to herself wryly. She didn't like the Avengers that much but at least they weren't out deliberately trying to destroy the world or something like that.

"So what kind of work will I be doing?" Melinda asked trying to change the subject and also to try and gather some information.

Albrecht blinked out of his brooding and his blue eyes focused on Melinda's dark brown ones, "After you read that file I will tell you about your job in more detail." he then set the crystal cup back on his desk with a dull _clunk_ , "Our talking here is finished." he reached below his desk and pressed a button.

Melinda gingerly set her cup on the desk when he said that and stood up from her chair. From behind her, the door opened and Mister walked into the room looking the same as ever.

"We will talk again very soon." Albrecht said quietly as he watched Mister walk Melinda out of his office with the thick manila folder in her hands.

Melinda followed Mister silently as they walked down the hallway. Her head was full of even more questions and she somehow doubted that most of them would be answered by the thick file she was carrying. By the looks of it, the papers in the worn folder had seen some history, hell, they even smelled like it.

She vaguely wondered about the direction her life was headed towards as she tried to ground herself in the reality of her situation. She knew she had thought so before, but her life was suddenly feeling surreal, like some kind of dream. Things like this didn't happen to normal people, but then again...she wasn't that normal was she? Before Melinda knew it, Mister had stopped in front of a door (the only door) visible at the distant far end of the hallway in the opposite direction of Albrecht's study. She tried to stop herself from walking into Mister's solid back but failed and hit him face first before stumbling backwards and righting herself. It felt like she had walked into a thick warm wall. He was immovable and the least bit disturbed by the collision, it was like he hadn't felt it at all.

"You're to stay here at all times." Mister cleared his throat and finally turned around to face Melinda who had been rubbing her forehead and gingerly touching her nose.

"In the room?" Melinda asked before she could stop herself and fearing Mister's annoyance she quickly glanced at him.

"In the room." Mister nodded at her as if he hadn't heard her speak, "Your meals will be delivered to you three times a day and you'll find all your things in there." he took out an old brass skeleton key and slid it into the lock of the door and turned it. The lock clicked open and the door swung open without a sound.

"If you need something and you don't find it in the room, just write it down on this notepad and hand it to the person delivering your meals." Mister held out a thick notepad of white paper to Melinda who took it automatically.

The room was darkened and the windows covered with the same heavy cloth in Albrecht's study. From what she could see just from the entrance, it was a large room, much bigger than her little apartment unit.

"I will escort you when it's time for you to work." Mister continued as he stepped inside the spacious room and began to drag away the heavy curtains obscuring the windows. No sunlight streamed in of course as it was nighttime, and the moonlight slid easily into the room and illuminated the room with a white glow.

Melinda stood rooted to her spot at the entrance of the room and watched as Mister continued to uncover window after window until at last he reached the very last one at the far end of the room. She couldn't even see him from her spot.

"Albrecht will give you a week to settle into this room. You can contact anyone you wish to but you're not allowed to tell them anything about your current situation." Mister continued as if reciting from a list he had memorized years ago, "There will be a few times when you are called out to eat together with Albrecht. I will escort you during those times." Mister finished tying back the heavy curtains of the last window and briskly made his way back to where Melinda was standing.

So basically all I have to do is stay in this room and wait until I get called out, Melinda thought to herself silently as she looked around the room trying to see the details of it. She unconsciously clutched the thick file of papers to her chest as Mister stopped in front of her and stepped aside.

He's waiting for me to walk inside, Melinda realized a little belatedly as she took a step forward and then another until she was well inside the room and standing next to a simple dining table complete with six elegant chairs and shiny silverware.

As soon as she stopped walking, Mister turned and flicked a switch from a row of them. Immediately the room filled with soft lighting, bright enough to reveal the details of the room but not enough to hurt her eyes.

"Do you have any questions?" Mister looked down at her through his dark sunglasses. The way he said it made it seem like he didn't want Melinda to even open her mouth.

"No." Melinda finally said and then looked away from the tall hulking figure of the man. She would have to just go with it all for now.

"Good, then I'll see you whenever duty calls." Mister replied and then he turned around and left the room closing and locking the door behind him with a gentle click.

Silence rang in her ears like high pitched bells as Melinda dazedly looked around the room. Room? It was more like a warehouse decorated with expensive furniture. It was a wide open space for sure, Melinda let her eyes wander the vicinity. Dark wooden floors, a large plush looking bed on the far side of the room with a thin black night table standing next to it. The lights, she realized were shining softly from lights high above her head making it feel like she was standing on a stage in some theatre. As Melinda walked around the room, she spotted the cat carrier next to the bed on the floor with its door open.

A thick purr broke the silence and Melinda looked around until she spotted Lily contentedly sprawled out on a dark red velvet cushion on a chair next to the fireplace on the right side of the bed. The cat's big green eyes stared into Melinda's brown ones for a few seconds before Lily blinked and looked away.

"Of course you'd be there." Melinda muttered under her breath but couldn't help but smile a little. Despite the craziness of her day, Lily seemed to be her one support system that never failed her.

Melinda looked down at the file in her arms suddenly acutely aware of the papers she hugged against her chest. Something told her not to read it. Something in her gut was telling her that she would regret it. She sighed, and walked to her bed, might as well be comfortable while reading all these papers, she thought to herself.

Once she settled herself into the thick folds of the white blanket she leaned forward and set the thick file down in front of her almost hoping that whatever this was, it was just some boring history of her past.

She looked at the worn folder, no words stared back up at her. At least the people had the tact not to write 'confidential' on it, Melinda nervously giggled.

"Let's just get this over with." Melinda whispered to herself, and she grabbed the thin cover and flipped it open to reveal the first page of papers. It was an old faded sheet of what was once white paper with a weird looking skull and tentacle looking things on the right upper corner. The ink on the paper was faded in some spots but it was still legible and the paper had been wrinkled, maybe it had been crumpled and reopened only to be crumpled again and then reopened a second time.

 **Subject number: 156**

 **Sex: F**

 **Age: Unknown (approx 9 years of age)**

 **Summary: Young female of unknown age and origin picked from a group of 23. Black hair, brown eyes, pale unblemished skin, nothing out of the ordinary when physical exam completed. Displays exceptional intelligence and physical ability. Will bring her back, we have decided to place her into Group WM with the others. Average candidate and not expected to outlive peers.**

Melinda blinked and looked up from the old ratty piece of paper, what the hell was she reading? Subject number 156? Was this some kind of science experiment? She looked down at the files once again and noticed that there was something paperclipped to the back of the first sheet of paper. Melinda swallowed and she reached over to slide the paper clip and whatever it was holding out from behind the crumpled sheet.

It was made of sturdier material than the paper and when she finally pulled it free of the metal clip, Melinda saw that it was an old worn photo. Someone had definitely kept this photo close, it was worn and wrinkled in a specific way. As if the past owner of the photo had taken it out of their pocket many times and clutched it with grief as they looked at it over and over again.

The photo was so worn that she could barely make out the figure that had been photographed. Melinda squinted and leaned in closer to try and make out the person standing alone in front of a cement building on dirt ground.

The eyes, the nose, the color of the hair and skin...something seemed so familiar about it all. The empty look of the girl's eyes as she looked into the lens of the camera, the face devoid of any and all expression. Melinda felt a prickle on the back of her neck and shoulders and suddenly she let go of the photo in her hands as if it burned her.

Of course she knew those features, the little curve of the nose, the almond shaped eyes, the dots beside her mouth.

Melinda eyed the face down picture with a shiver, the girl in the photo was her. The girl that was being described in the first page of the file was **her**.

-.-.-.

So sorry for the late update! School has just started back up and it's been crazy. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and comments will be very much appreciated as well! If there are any spelling/grammar mistakes then I apologize. I've just been trying to get this story back on track and I haven't that focused on that.


	12. Chapter 12

Melinda sat on the bed in disbelief after she let the last page of the file silently land on the blanket. In the span of five hours, the world as she knew it had changed completely. What disturbed her even more was the fact that she could remember none of it. Or maybe that was because of the memory wiping process her 'parents' had put her through after pulling out of the organization.

This file consisting of about 500 pages of paper contained her whole life and then some. Speculations, theories, future ideas for research, sure those were fine, but then it got weird. Her preferences, the style of clothing she wore, brands she preferred, foods she liked and disliked, habits, desires, and even her favorite color were all listed. Events in her life? Just check the detailed timeline in the last few pages. There was even a comprehensive list of all the boys she had dated and their history. What was even more surprising was the information about SHIELD, but she didn't want to think about that right now.

Her neck and shoulders prickled and she couldn't shake the creepy feeling that had settled into her gut. She had been watched her whole life and had never realized it. Melinda looked down at the papers she had read through and in a sudden fit of rage she swiped them off her bed where they fluttered to the floor. So she was some kind of freak all because these _scientists_ wanted to prove something. The _scientists_ she had called 'parents' for almost a good two decades of her life. Melinda felt the sudden feeling of betrayal wash over like cold water the more she thought about it all. So how much of what she remembered was real? Had they ever intended to tell her at all? Melinda let out a derisive snort, never. That much was obvious. They had intended to keep everything from her and let her be a fool.

Albrecht had told her that most of her questions would be answered after she read the file but that could be nothing further from the truth. Melinda now had more questions she wanted answers to than ever but that would have to wait. It was 4 in the morning she realized as she checked the time on her cellphone. Melinda stood up from the bed and stretched out her stiff limbs before walking around the large room as she searched for a bathroom. There had to be one in here right?

The bathroom she looked for was located at the far corner of the room and thank all the luck out there that it wasn't just a bucket but an actual bathroom. The door was black and blended in with the shadows thrown against it but she had gone through the room opening all the doors she was able to. It was tastefully arranged and simple, and everything she needed was in it. Melinda hesitantly looked through the drawers.

It turns out that all of her things had been carefully arranged and put in their places. Her makeup and toiletry items were in the bathroom, her clothes had been neatly folded and put away in a dark wood wardrobe, and even Lily had her own place set up near the bed.

As Melinda went through her evening routine, her mind wandered back to Bucky and a slight pang went through her. She absently wondered what he was doing and if he wasn't hurt.

"This isn't the time for that Melinda." she mumbled to herself as she patted her face dry with a fluffy white towel. She had a whole other monster to worry about, she didn't have time to think about someone else.

By the time she had changed into her pajamas (old shorts and comfortable t-shirt), it was 5 in the morning and she was exhausted. The day's events and the revelation that her whole life had literally been one giant lie seemed to suck the energy out of her and the weight of it all just crashed down onto her. As soon as Melinda put her head on her thick fluffy pillow, she was asleep.

When she opened her eyes again, it was one in the afternoon and for a moment Melinda felt herself panic at the unfamiliar surroundings before remembering where she was and what had happened.

She sat up abruptly and looked around the room cautiously. The papers she had swiped off her bed still lay in a mess on the floor but next to the bed there was a rolling cart laden with plates covered with silver domes.

Melinda groaned as she stretched out her body trying to wake herself up. Her head still felt thick and clouded with sleep and her shoulders were stiff but the thought of food kept her from lying back down. She stood up and took a step towards the cart but kept an eye out just in case the person who had wheeled it in was still there.

Melinda once again looked around to make sure she was alone and then reached out to uncover the dish closest to her. A stack of thick fluffy pancakes sprinkled with powdered sugar and berries greeted her. She blinked and then uncovered all of the other dishes. A full English breakfast, eight different kinds of omelettes, french toast, crunchy hashbrowns, crispy bacon, a bowl of fresh fruit, cereal and milk, there were even vegetarian/vegan alternatives of breakfast foods.

"Um." Melinda unconsciously spoke out loud as she stared at all the food laden on the cart. Was this how rich people had their breakfast? An uncomfortable feeling slid down her back and she felt a little guilty even though she hadn't done anything. After deliberating for a few moments, Melinda reached over for a small plate of scrambled eggs with veggies, veggie links, and a bowl of fruit. She wasn't a big fancy eater like some people could be.

As she ate in silence, the information that she read through last night slowly began to trickle back into the forefront of her mind. Melinda was tempted to grab her phone and call _them_ demanding to know if they had ever truly loved her. Or if they had only been able to see her specially like some trophy they won as the only surviving subject of their disgusting experiment.

It wasn't the first time Melinda felt alone but it was the first time she felt it so deeply in her heart. She was alone and she didn't even know who she was. Well, she knew who she was in a sense, she knew the person that her upbringing and environment made her out to be, but that was only a part of her.

Thinking about it more closely, it made sense to her, and as Melinda finished up the plate of eggs and veggie sausages, she came to the conclusion that somehow she always knew that she was only half the person she should have been.

When she finished eating the bowl of fresh fruit, she stacked up the dishes and neatly put them back on the cart. What would she do now? Melinda wondered as she looked around the room. Now that daylight streamed in through the windows, she could see her surroundings more clearly than yesterday.

In the sunlight, the room was more impressive than she realized and it dawned on Melinda just how large her accommodations were. Outside the windows, there was a large field of grass and wildflowers. Beyond that, there was a tall gray wall that seemed to circle around the perimeter blocking the outside world from view. She had the feeling that she was somehow being pulled into the other side of the world. If the world had two sides like a coin, and one side was light, where 98% of the world's population lived in, and the other side was gray where the rest of the 2% lived in, Melinda was now living in the deeper part of the world. She had always been living in the other side and she had always been looking at the other side.

It disturbed her that she was living in another world that only a few had access to.

A knock on the door snapped Melinda out of her thoughts and she looked towards the entrance. The door opened silently and Mister walked in looking as groomed as ever.

"You're awake now." he stated bluntly as he walked over to the cart still next to her bed. He was still wearing his dark sunglasses but this time he was chewing pink bubblegum which cracked as he chewed it.

"Um yeah." Melinda sat down on her bed and watched Mister grab the handle of the cart. Was he the one who had delivered breakfast?

"I heard from one of the maids." Mister said as if he knew what Melinda was thinking, he began to wheel the cart away from her but stopped and turned around, "Get ready for dinner at 7. Albrecht wants to eat with you."

"Get ready?" Melinda looked at Mister in surprise, "Like dress up?" she asked.

"The maids will come in at 6 to help you." Mister called back to her as he began to wheel the cart towards the door, "You just need to sit still and let them do their job." was all he said as he walked out and shut the door behind him.

Melinda heard a little click, indicating that he locked the door so that she couldn't get out. Not as if she could get out of this place anyways. She didn't even know where she was.

I guess it's a good thing that I'm having dinner with him, Melinda thought to herself as she flopped onto her back. She had many questions for him and right now, he was the only person she could count on for answers although it was less than ideal.

-.-.-.

 **SHIELD HQ** :

"She's missing." Steve announced reluctantly to Fury and Coulson. All three of them were standing in a private conference room after Captain called for an emergency meeting.

Fury raised an eyebrow at him and a vein in his temple seemed to twitch, "What do you mean she's missing." he enunciated every word clearly as if telling Rogers to be very careful, "She's implanted with a chip that tells us her location."

"She was implanted with a chip?" Steve frowned and his expression suddenly turned from solemness to outrage and disbelief. The only reason why he had been able to find Melinda back then was because Agent Romanoff dropped him a few hints….So this was how Black Widow knew. A dark feeling came over him but he restrained it and focused on the situation at hand.

"It was just standard procedure." Coulson shrugged, the pleasant expression he wore on his face didn't change.

"Don't get sidetracked Captain." Fury cut in before Steve could say anything else.

Steve closed his mouth and glared at Fury for a few seconds before sighing, the scowl melted off his face leaving behind exhaustion and worry, "Well, I guess that explains why the information team was panicked." he muttered, "They can't find her signal."

Silence.

Steve looked away from the spot on the wall he had been fixating on and saw Fury and Coulson exchange looks.

"Wasn't Stark in contact with her?" Fury finally spoke again and he crossed his arms over his chest.

Steve sighed, of course Fury would know about that too, "He was going to bring her here for testing yesterday." and neither of them had shown up.

"Are you trying to say," Fury began slowly, "that _someone_ has interfered with that and has kidnapped this woman?"

The air was tense as all three people ran the implications through their heads. To be honest, Steve still didn't have that many details about Melinda, he only really knew the most important point and that was this: she was a healer. If he wanted to know more, he would have to do digging by himself and he hadn't gotten around to that yet.

Fury then sighed and turned to Coulson, "Contact Romanoff." a frown was forming on his face as he walked out of the soundproofed room briskly.

Coulson and Steve Rogers watched Fury leave and then turn to look at each other.

"So you knew about her too." Steve said conversationally, he was trying to understand why someone like her would be kept as one of the highly guarded secrets of SHIELD. Yes, she was a healer and that in itself was valuable but she wasn't a weapon, she wasn't a danger to others. Was there something else to her?

Coulson watched as Steve got lost in his own thoughts and conjectures about Melinda and then he spoke, "The people of this world haven't really changed Captain." his voice was quiet but soft, "Sure, it's a bit more peaceful." he shrugged, "But bad people will always exist."

Steve looked at Coulson in surprise, "What do you mean?" he asked curiously. Did this have something to do with Melinda or Bucky? Or both maybe?

But Coulson just gave him an enigmatic smile and walked out of the conference room to contact Romanoff.

It was uncomfortably silent in the room with Steve alone, it felt like he was trapped in the space with his questions, worry, and anger. They were suffocating.

His mind went back to Stark, oh Steve knew that Stark was back at his tower and probably stewing in defeat and licking the wounds of his injured ego. This unprecedented situation had thrown a wrench in whatever plans Tony had and the billionaire wasn't pleasant company at the moment. Steve took a deep breath, but he would have to talk to Stark anyway...or at least try.

-.-.-.

 **Russia/ Classified area**

"Are you kidding me right now?" Natasha clenched her teeth in frustration at the news she just heard, "No, I can't **do** anything!" she switched the black flip phone from one ear to the other as she struggled to tie down two writhing men with one wire hanger and a length of fishing line.

"I'm in the middle of work!" Natasha straightened up once she managed to immobilize the two men and gave them a good faceful of mace before she shoved them into a small pit, "Yes, it's _that_ place in Russia." she snapped back and then let out a heavy sigh, "Have you told Steve?" her voice grew softer at the mention of Captain America. She knew that he would have a slightly harder time trying to understand what was happening.

"What? He told you?" Natasha blinked, now that was new information. What had happened while she was away?

She quickly looked around herself as she walked to a hidden area of the building and dropped into the dark tunnel beneath the thick floors of the factory.

"You want Stark to be part of it too? Are you guys insane?" Natasha hissed as she avoided an iron rod jutting out of the wall, "Of course it is!" she argued back with the person on the other end of the line, "When does he ever simply just do things? The man always has some kind of plan, some crazy delusional plan." she sighed as if in resignation.

Although the tunnel was completely dark, Natasha Romanoff had no trouble navigating her way through the tricky underground maze underneath the streets of Russia. She had arrived in Russia in the dead of night to stop an information tradeoff between a Russian diplomat and a crooked American CIA agent. It had been a job very well done, if she had to say so herself and she even received some valuable pieces of information from both parties which was rare in her line of work. Natasha had been in an exceptionally good mood but then this one phone call managed to ruin it all and then some. If she had to compare it with a feeling, it was like finally putting her hair up and putting on a pair of sweats and then being called into work after getting comfortable. The worst possible feeling ever.

"So?" Natasha impatiently tapped a fingernail on the plastic cover of the phone as she held it to her ear, "What's her location?" she heard rats crawling around in the drafty tunnel as she turned right into another long dark tunnel.

"What do you mean you can't locate her?" Natasha scowled, "You guys have been keeping tabs on her for years!" the frustration in her voice was so sharp that the rats she passed by scattered silently.

Natasha listened to the voice on the other line for a few more seconds before letting out a heavy sigh, "I thought I was supposed to be on break after this assignment." she pushed open a metal gate and continued to walk straight through the tunnel. She could see the faint outline of white at the far end indicating that there was a door leading to the outside world.

"Yeah well, what can we do huh?" Natasha bit the inside of her cheek, "Alright, I'll contact you when I reach headquarters." she heaved another sigh and then pressed the button to end the call.

So Melinda had been kidnapped. Natasha sighed heavily and stowed away the phone into one of the many pockets on her suit. This was why she had wanted to keep Melinda a secret. Too many unknowns were happening and if this plan failed then...Natasha shook her head as she pushed open the door to the outside world. It was too bright. She squinted against the light and then turned her attention to the black, nondescript car parked a few feet away.

"Well, hopefully it won't come down to that." Natasha murmured to herself as she caught the eye of the driver and nodded. She would do what she could to make sure the worst case scenario didn't happen.

-.-.-.

Please forgive any typos or grammar mistakes. I tried to get this chapter out as fast as I could but since school started up I've been super busy. Comments are appreciated :)


	13. Chapter 13

Melinda lounged around on the bed until 6pm. She was going to clean up the papers that were still scattered all over the floor but thought better of it and ended up on her bed instead. She still didn't want to touch the files. She didn't even want to look at them. So Melinda ignored the papers.

When it 6pm rolled around, someone politely knocked on the door and opened it. A line of women dressed in the same gray uniforms marched in. One holding a dress, another holding shoes and a case of accessories, another one holding a box with what Melinda assumed was filled with makeup, and another wheeling in another cart loaded with different things such as ribbons, bath salts/oils, creams, perfumes, and many other things that she didn't recognize.

She was feeling bewildered and a little shocked to see expressionless women line up in front of her and bow low to her before the one who wheeled the cart in took a step forward and spoke.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Grace. My job is to make you presentable before the master." her voice was soft but firm and filled with authority. She was used to having her orders followed and it seems that she expected nothing else.

Melinda looked at the row of expressionless women lined up in front of her and nodded silently. It's not like she had much of a choice at this point, she thought to herself.

"Excellent." Grace's tone was brisk and suddenly all business like as she turned around and began to bark orders at the women. One by one they went off to complete the task assigned to them and when they had all gone, Grace once again turned to face Melinda.

It was like barking out orders had given Grace life, her face was flushed and her blue eyes were alight.

"Now then." her voice was quiet but Melinda could detect the faint accent that was similar to Albrecht's.

Melinda felt herself slowly tense up under the scrutinizing stare of the blue eyed woman. A few seconds passed before Grace let out a quiet sigh and a murmur that sounded like, 'I suppose this is the best for someone of her breed.'

As those words slowly sank in, Melinda suddenly felt a hot prick of shame and embarrassment. What the hell was this? She bit her lip and held still trying to breathe evenly through her nose. A cold anger blanketed her body and Melinda suddenly felt calm.

"Is everything ready?" Grace's voice was loud and brisk with purpose as she walked around to inspect what the other blond haired and blue eyed women were doing.

Once everything seemed to meet Grace's expectations she then walked over to where Melinda sat, "It's time to prepare you, come with me." she looked down at Melinda expectantly.

Melinda smiled slightly at her, "No." she looked directly into Grace's eyes.

Grace froze, and all around them the women who were busily moving around slowly came to a stop and looked at her with unconcealed shock on their faces.

"We don't have time for this nonsense." Grace's eyes narrowed and she reached down to grab Melinda by the wrist.

"Don't touch me." Melinda jerked her wrist out of her reach, "And you can tell your master that I will not be attending tonight." her gaze didn't waver from Grace's face.

Grace opened her mouth to say something but Melinda stood up, her smile was bigger, "Now get out." the anger inside of her did not die but she kept a tight control on it.

The women in the background dropped what they were holding and quietly walked out of the room leaving Grace and Melinda alone in the room staring at each other.

"You are being serious." Grace whispered suddenly looking panicked and even horrified as she looked down at Melinda.

"Yes." Melinda replied evenly, she didn't care what Albrecht would do to her if she didn't show up for dinner. It was fact that he needed her for something, and although she wasn't sure of exactly what it was, the one with leverage was herself. Not him.

"Please." Grace suddenly dropped to her knees in front of Melinda, "You must meet with the master." her accent was more evident now and she was trembling.

Melinda blinked and took a step backwards surprised by the sudden change in Grace, "What?"

"You must meet with the master." Grace repeated and looked up at Melinda pleadingly, "If it is because of what I said earlier then forgive me and I will let you have your retribution but please don't let my behaviour affect the relationship that my master is trying to build with you." she was speaking quickly and in hushed tones.

The relationship that her master is trying to build with me? Melinda frowned as she replayed the words over in her head, and just what kind of relationship is this?

Grace looked up into Melinda's eyes, the fear and panic were clearly imprinted on her delicate face.

"I will have my retribution after this then." Melinda spoke coldly and then sat back down on the bed. She couldn't bring herself to refuse Grace's pleading. That was more than pleading to get out of trouble. It was more like she was begging for her life.

Grace visibly relaxed and stood up from the floor, "I thank you." she murmured half in relief and half in gratitude. She then turned around and called the women back inside the room.

Although Grace's attitude had visibly changed from one of apparent disgust and condescension to polite and even friendly attentiveness, the anger in Melinda's chest did not recede.

And all throughout the process of having the many women patting creams and makeup on her face and doing her hair and dressing her despite protests, Melinda couldn't help but remember the words Grace had let slip from her mouth.

It took about a good hour until Melinda's transformation was completed and as soon as the women finally stepped away from her, Melinda wanted to change back into her pajamas again and go to sleep. She did have to admit that getting her hair and makeup done by a professional was definitely worth it though.

"It's time." Mister's voice startled everyone and suddenly there was a great hush as the great big man drew near to where Melinda was seated.

The women circling Melinda fanned out and away as Mister approached them leisurely. His suit was as creaseless as before and his shoes were so shiny that it could almost double as a mirror.

"You look nice." he commented as he stopped beside Melinda and peered at her through his dark sunglasses.

"You can see through those glasses in here?" Melinda turned her head to look directly at the man.

Mister just smiled and shrugged his bulky shoulders but didn't respond as he still looked her over. It was as if he was scrutinizing her for anything out of place.

"The dark red suits you." Mister held out an arm and Melinda grabbed it.

"Thank you." Melinda stood up and let Mister lead her out of the room leaving the women and most notably Grace behind.

The dress that Melinda was wearing was made of dark red luxurious thick material that hugged her torso and draped down her body in elegant waves. Her accessories were simple and consisted of a delicate gold chain around her neck and a pair of thin gold threader earrings. Her thick black hair was put up into a semi bun with a few tendrils of hair hanging loose.

All in all, Melinda thought this was too much for a simple dinner between two strangers. Was this how Albrecht ate dinner every night? In a silk suit dressed to the nines?

The hallway was the same as she remembered but instead of going all the way down to the other end of it, Mister steered her to the left through an archway and into a large dining room.

From the ceiling hung elaborate crystal chandeliers, the walls were an off white and accents were gilded in gold. Other than that, there were no decorations on the wall and the place was surprisingly empty except for the necessities.

Albrecht was already seated at the far end of the long dark wooden table. His back was straight against his chair and he had one hand on the table drumming his fingers against the surface almost impatiently. His ice blue eyes silently followed Melinda as she was seated in the chair at the other end of the table.

Mister took a step back once Melinda was settled in her chair and left when he saw the slight tip of Albrecht's head.

Melinda looked ahead of her at the opposite end of where she sat. This was a very long table, she realized, and he expected to eat like this?

"You look very nice tonight." Albrecht commented softly, his eyes were locked with hers from across the table.

Strange, even though he was so far away, Melinda could hear him as clearly as if he were right next to her.

"Thank you." Melinda replied a little stiffly as she tried not to fidget around in her dress. The altercation with Grace seemed ages ago now that Melinda was sitting here at the table with Albrecht. She had so many questions to ask and so many answers she wanted to demand from him.

Albrecht looked at Melinda with a small cryptic smile and shook his head when she opened her mouth to begin asking her questions, "Food first." he said firmly, "And then we talk." At his words, maids seemingly appeared out of nowhere carrying large plates with the silver domes covering the contents.

They set down the covered plates in front of Albrecht and Melinda and uncovered them before silently taking a step back to leave the room.

Contrary to what she was expecting, the fare was simple but nutritious, there was none of that fancy elegant looking food to be seen anywhere. Instead, there was a juicy looking steak, a side of roasted potatoes wrapped in rosemary and spices and another side of steamed vegetables.

While Melinda had been preoccupied, a maid had poured her a glass of burgundy wine before leaving, something she just noticed.

Albrecht had already begin eating and from her side of the long table Melinda could see that he was adept with table manners. Was he some kind of aristocrat or something? Born and bred with a silver spoon from birth?

Now that she thought about it, this man was obviously incredibly wealthy yet she didn't recognize him, least of all his name. What did this man do?

The meal began quietly and it also ended the same way. No words had been spoken as each person focused on the food set down in front of them. It was even more awkward for Melinda because she had never sat so far apart from a dinner partner before.

"Now then." Albrecht finally leaned back from his half empty plate of food and after a small sip of wine, he stood up, "Follow me." was all he said before he began walking.

Melinda blinked and then she lurched up from her chair and quickly went after Albrecht. Was this the part where they sit down somewhere with a glass of liquor and talk? Maybe it was just Melinda thinking this, but wasn't he being a little too easy going?

They walked in silence, and it took Melinda a few seconds to realize that they were actually walking back to his study. The first room she had been in after arriving so suddenly.

The study was the same as ever and Albrecht motioned for Melinda to sit in one of the cushy seats near the fireplace. She chose to sit in the comfortable looking dark brown leather seat and waited a little nervously for Albrecht to join her.

Whatever the man was doing, it took him a few minutes and when he finally joined her, he was holding a tray loaded with an assortment of liquor and two thick crystal glasses. He carefully set down the tray on a small dark wooden table between the two chairs and sat at the edge of his seat.

Melinda opened her mouth to ask a question but Albrecht gave her a look before reaching over to unstopper a short slim decanter filled with amber brown liquid.

"Aged 100 years." he said conversationally as he poured a small measure of the liquor into each glass, "Finest cognac I have ever tried." he handed her a glass.

Melinda looked at it and then at his face before slowly taking the cup from his slim pale hand. She couldn't understand why he was going through the trouble of all of this. It was easier to get straight to the point and talk.

Albrecht put the crystal stopper back and grabbed his own cup before settling back comfortably into his chair. The fire flickered and burned brightly as it cast long shadows across the room.

"What am I?" the words clumsily tumbled from her lips before she could stop herself. Melinda winced, curse her impulsiveness, sometimes her mouth went off before her mind could catch it.

Albrecht looked at her, an amused expression on his face, "You want me to be honest no?" he took a sip from his cup and swirled the contents around.

"Of course." Melinda replied back instantly and then she bit the inside of her cheeks. Feeling a little embarrassed at her unrestrained enthusiasm for answers, she decided to take a sip of cognac. The sweet nutty flavor spread over her tongue like syrup as she swallowed.

"Then be patient." Albrecht replied as he watched Melinda with his clear blue eyes, "There are answers to your questions you will not like." he tilted his head and looked at her thoughtfully, "In fact, I would say that you won't like any of it at all."

Melinda let his words sink in, I won't like any of it? She frowned, who was he kidding right now? Melinda hated it all from the moment she read the first paragraph of the damned files he had handed her. But she deserved her answers and she deserved to know everything about herself.

"Tell me everything." Melinda looked at Albrecht almost defiantly. There was nothing he could say to make it worse. She had no real family and she was some orphan picked up from who knows where. Her whole life had been a lie and she had been the end result of some kind of experiment. She was only a trophy that her 'parents' could look at and polish from time to time.

Albrecht looked at her for a few moments, an unreadable expression on his face. He seemed to think about a few things while he stared and his eyes suddenly took on a far away look.

Melinda blinked and looked away feeling awkward. What was he thinking about now? Would she have to wait long for the answers she wanted to hear from him?

"A long time ago." Albrecht suddenly began, "My organization was at the pinnacle of power and intellect."

Startled, Melinda looked at Albrecht who was now staring into the fire and occasionally taking sips of the cognac.

"Our numbers were great, and there were many who shared the same dreams. Having great power was imperative to reaching our goals." He suddenly looked at Melinda, "But that...is a story for another time." he let out a humorless chuckle.

"You," he began, "are special. Perhaps among the likes of the blue skinned woman, but in a slightly different way." he looked at Melinda thoughtfully.

Blue skinned woman? Melinda frowned, who was he talking about?

"In our organization, we had two brilliant scientists." Albrecht took another sip of the liquor in his crystal cup, his gaze was still on Melinda, "They could come up with...anything that the mind could think of if they only had the resources."

A shiver crawled up Melinda's spine when she realized he was talking about her 'parents'.

"Before we get to that though, I will tell you of the time before they joined the organization." Albrecht tilted his head to gather his thoughts and then continued.

"One day, the woman, your mother, heard an interesting piece of news. That someone she had been searching for had been captured and was being held in a government facility." Albrecht swirled the contents around in his cup, "She pleaded with the government to let her meet that _person_. But you know how the government is." he shrugged his shoulders, "They denied her request no matter who she went to and so finally, desperate to meet with the prisoner, the woman came to me and we made a deal."

"Do not misunderstand your parents." Albrecht continued, "It was a difficult choice for them I'm sure." he gave her a half smile, "But true scientists push aside their humanity to sate their curiosity even if it's only for a little while." he settled back into his chair and paused for a few seconds before going on, "I'm sure you want to know what the deal entailed." he spared Melinda a glance, "But that part will come soon."

Melinda bit the inside of her cheek, she didn't like where this was going at all. Even if she had seemed ready to be able to handle whatever information Albrecht was going to throw at her, she wasn't so sure of it now.

"It turns out that as a scientist, your mother had been in charge of trying to figure out the blue skinned woman's genetic makeup and mutation and duplicate it in another. Although, if she had been working for the government at that time you would not be here." Albrecht poured himself some more cognac, "She and her husband were working for some small private company." he waved a hand in the air, "Insignificant." he muttered, "You see, there are many people in the world who would do anything to have someone of the blue skinned woman's ability working for them."

Again with the blue skinned woman, Melinda frowned, who was this blue skinned woman? Why did he keep talking about her and what did it have to do with her? There was nothing in the files about this woman he kept mentioning.

"Her ability is invaluable and more men than I can count have done whatever they can to try and imitate it or replicate it in another." Albrecht continued as if he didn't notice Melinda's growing confusion, "I'm sure you realized it while reading your files but you were 1 out of approximately 300 others to be experimented on using Mystique's genetic material."

Melinda did know that part, after all it had detailed progress notes, but there was a limit to what could be understood since many words were abbreviated or written down using 1 or 2 letters. They were meant to be read by the same people so there was no need to write down what they meant.

"There are many pieces of information that are not detailed in the file." Albrecht sighed, "But I will tell you now, and this is just the first piece." Albrecht looked at Melinda intently, "You are the only survivor of that particular experiment."

-.-.-.

Forgive any grammatical or spelling errors :) I've had a bad case of writer's block but I'm back. One day I will come back and fix any mistakes and smooth out the chapter but for now please bear with it.

Thanks for the comments, follows and favorites guys it makes my day and I'm happy that so many of you enjoy reading what I write.


	14. Chapter 14

Melinda blinked in surprise as the words slowly sank in and her mind wrapped around the meaning, "There were a little more than 300 people." the words fell clumsily from her lips, "What do you mean I'm the only survivor."

Albrecht just looked at her, a hint of pity on his face, "Just as I have said." he shrugged almost nonchalantly, "There was nothing to be done. The genetic material of that woman...of Mystique is akin to a mystery." Albrecht's blue eyes then found Melinda's brown ones, "We were all...surprised to find that there had been a survivor. _You_." he emphasized, his accent rolled heavily, "However, you were not as the experiment had intended. You were not as _we_ had intended. You were different than what we had imagined."

"Who is Mystique? And what do you mean I wasn't what you guys intended?" Melinda couldn't help asking. She was having trouble trying to wrap her mind around the conversation. She didn't even know who or what this Mystique woman was. She could deduce the obvious, that this Mystique woman had amazing or rare abilities and that people wanted them. They wanted them so much so that they conducted what was probably inhumane experiments on other people to try and copy those abilities.

Albrecht frowned at her for a moment, "Mystique is a woman of a unique genetic mutation." he had paused for a moment before answering her question, "She has the talent to...become someone else to perfection." his eyes lingered on Melinda before moving to the fireplace and staying there as he continued to speak, "As I have said before, there are many people who wish to use that power and yet Mystique fundamentally works for her own purposes."

"I'm sure that you can deduce enough to realize that you were part of an experiment to replicate her abilities." Albrecht's eyes flicked over to her for a moment before going back to the fireplace, "Of course, as you know, the experiments yielded very little if no promising results. No matter the genius intellect that your parents possessed." The man sighed and settled himself into his seat comfortably, "It seems as though there are some things that people are not made to have."

Melinda almost felt frozen in her seat as she listened to Albrecht talk. His tone was as light as if he was discussing the taste of food or the scent of a perfume that he enjoyed. It seemed that the worth and weight of human lives sacrificed because of his greed didn't even scratch his conscious. They had been nothing if not disposable trash to him. In fact, to people like him, there were probably too many of 'them'...too many of 'us', Melinda realized a little belatedly.

"Some years went by and as the subjects died from all the...testing, we all realized the futility of such an undertaking and so, I decided to shut it all down. It was a waste of Mystique's genetic material and my time. By then, there were only a few subjects left, you among them." Albrecht continued not noticing or caring if Melinda was listening or not, "At that time, I did not know exactly what your...parents saw in you," he paused, "but it was you they chose to take and run away with." his ice blue eyes now found her brown ones.

Melinda blinked as she let all of this information sink in. It didn't feel like she was listening to her own story but rather someone else's.

"One year after they left, all the test subjects had died." Albrecht tapped a finger on the arm of his chair thoughtfully, "I know what you're about to ask." he smiled but there was no warmth, "Why did I let them get away?"

The two people stared at each other for a few moments of silence before Albrecht answered with a shrug, "They were not worth my time. I had much more important things to do and everyone including myself, was under the impression that the test subject they had taken, namely you, had died anyway."

But I'm here now, Melinda thought to herself bitterly, a survivor of some kind of freak experiment. She took a big swig of the amber liquid in her cup and winced a little at the burn she felt as she swallowed.

"But," Albrecht's voice took on a sudden sharpness and there seemed to be a strange light in his blue eyes as he looked at her, "we were mistaken. You were special."

"Special." Melinda repeated almost scathingly. She could not think of anything that made her stand out from anyone else. She was a freak. Her own 'super power' would be the death of her one day. There was no use for her abilities anyway, Melinda's mind flashed back to Tony Stark's machine that had healed her some time ago.

"Yes." Albrecht ignored Melinda's skepticism and leaned forward, "No one expected this. It did not cross the minds of anyone involved in the project. Not even your parents." the blond man settled back into his chair once again with a shrug of his shoulders.

Melinda's brow crinkled as she tried to think of the possibilities but of course...there were too many. There was no way she could come up with the right answer for herself.

"What was it?" Melinda asked when Albrecht didn't say anything. He was pouring himself another measure of the liquor and offered her some but she shook her head.

Albrecht stoppered the decanter and swirled the contents around in his cup before taking a sip. He held the crystal cup up to the light of the fire and then looked at her for a moment, "It was that you had abilities of your own."

"I had what?" Melinda couldn't believe what she was hearing now.

"Yes, we all had that same reaction as well." Albrecht chuckled at the sight of her face and took another sip of his drink, "It took everyone years to figure it out but it took your parents only a couple of months." he sighed, "Earlier I said that I did not know why they chose you to take. It took us a lot of time to realize the reason why."

Melinda had no words to describe how she was feeling right now. Sure there was some disappointment and fear, but more than that there was anger and a big sense of betrayal. She thought back to the faces of the people who called themselves her parents. So this was why they had chosen her, because she had her **own** powers.

"You had become...something else entirely." Albrecht turned his head to look at the fireplace this time, "To make the story short, I had some of my people track down your family."

Melinda straightened up in her seat at his words, he had done what?

"It's been a while since you saw them isn't that right?" Albrecht set down his glass on the tray and settled into his seat comfortably, "They were very willing to part with every bit of information they had on you." his tone of voice was very light as he told her.

"And?" Melinda couldn't help but to shrug at his comment. Whether or not this man did something to her 'parents' was of no concern to her now. Especially after all that had been revealed to her. Maybe she should have felt some kind of emotion for them like worry, but there was nothing like that.

Albrecht blinked at her for a moment not expecting the edge to her tone, "And well, your parents have hypothesized that before we began the genetic experiments, your abilities would have been to repair the physical structure of cells or accelerate cell division in organisms."

"So in other words, I would have been able to just heal them." Melinda stated bluntly. Of course, it was more complicated than that but the simplest way to sum it up was just that.

"To put it simply, yes." Albrecht nodded, "Had we not interfered with your original abilities it would have stayed just that."

"So then...because of the experiments, it became what it is today." Melinda summarized quietly. To be honest, there were no words for the emotions she felt at the very moment. She felt it all and at the same time she felt nothing, "How can you be sure of all of this?" she asked slumping back into her chair.

"It turned out that your parents had been secretly doing their own research after leaving me." Albrecht began softly in a tone that made Melinda suppress a shiver of revulsion, "Over the years, they had collected more data while caring for you." he glanced at her briefly before looking away, "They... _hypothesized_ that, as I have said earlier, your original unaltered abilities would have been merely to just heal." there was a brief silence as he gathered his thoughts before continuing, "You read from the files that there were sub groups of the experiments. Some children were injected with blood, others had different sections of their DNA spliced and replicated within the body, and so on. You were in the first group that I mentioned. To be clear here, the amount of blood actually injected was but a mere 3 milliliters and it only needed to be injected once for any changes to occur."

Melinda blinked, so it hadn't been as she had pictured it then. Reading the case file had only painted gruesome pictures in her head like kids strapped to a metal gurney screaming and crying while masked scientists hurt them. But then again, that was something movies did to excite the viewers, and this was definitely not a movie.

"When Mystique's blood was introduced to your body, you can say that there was a reaction. Almost like an allergy." Albrecht continued, "It took a few days for your body to adjust and adapt to the anomaly in your veins and your new abilities lay dormant for a couple of months afterwards."

There was silence for a few minutes as Melinda gathered her thoughts, "So what does all of this have to do with me being here then?" she finally asked. She'd had enough of her 'origin' story, she wanted to know what was going to happen.

"Ah yes, I almost forgot about that." Albrecht's eyes lit up and a small smile curved the edges of his mouth up before quickly disappearing, "Your job." he leaned forward.

Melinda blinked and suddenly felt regret squeezing her chest as she looked at Albrecht. The look on his face told her that his next words wouldn't be pleasant.

-.-.

Forgive any typos please. So sorry for the long delay. I've started a new job after graduating and it's been super busy, not to mention the super annoying writer's block that's been harassing me for a while. I hope to be updating regularly now that everything is starting to settle and things are starting to move forward.

I appreciate the reviews that you guys have been posting and once againn forgive me if the chapter has been a little redundant. It's hard to pick up where I left off after a long time. It's short but it's another start!

Thanks people!


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